Thursday 11 October, 2007

And we are back to action:)

Yes,I admit it has been a long break,longest in my three odd years of blogging but thats how i am,I cannot stay away from "Aalapana" But then blogging about food needs more focus,we are not talking about matters of Heart but we are talking about perfection, concentration, taste, color, and more than anything a sort of discipline,and i lack in all these areas when it comes to KITCHEN & COOKING.
Then why a food blog you may ask:) Because i am proud of my cooking,i am proud that i started cooking just a year back and found this new side to my personality and i am surprised,because for me cooking is not easy,its a dedicated job which so many people out there do it so effortlessly and when i started doing it i wanted to jot down the memories here,of the mishaps,of the smiles and of those food items which i tasted from my childhood but started enjoying them more now because its now i know the feeling of owning or creating something from scratch.
I have been away because i just lost that inclination of taking pictures and writing about it,it happens when you are working for more than 18hours a day and don't find time to even think about or feel the food you are eating, and even now i am busy for another ten days but i am back and i will try and update whenever i feel so,and the very few readers who come here,I am sorry ladies;p but now i am back:)

Dhokla has been a childhood favorite and being a south Indian never hampered my taste buds for this spongy stuff and asusual everything is changed according to our tastes in our kitchens and i saw mom doing so too. I never had an inclination to make dhokla mix with the daals and keep it in store, mix it the night before and all.So when i heard about the Khaman dhokla instantly made by my Ex-colleague i could n stop myself:) So here we go, Dhokla with Peanut,coconut chutney (i prefer it with this chutney)



Ingredients
I cup of Besan, One pinch of Soda bicarbonate, Three tablespoons of lemon juice, One tablespoon of sugar,pinch of turmeric, Water to mix the floor and mix the batter along with a tsp of oil. Mix well with all the ingredients without any lumps and keep it aside for about ten min and you can see the bubbles forming. Grease the dhokla plates and pour the batter on to them.

This is my priced possession i would say, while searching for a idli stand i found this where i can steam idlies, vegetables and make dhokla or cake also, idli is made in cups and dhokla plates are provided and all for a price of 300rs :)

After pouring the batter into three different size plates ansteam the dhoklas for about 15min.

And they are ready,All i need to do is garnish them with corriander and if you like then grated coconut also can be added. Heat some oil and add mustard,jeera and slit green chillies along with curryleaves and garnish this on to the dhokla, trust me,the taste of mustard seeds fried in oil
makes such a good difference:)



And the dhoklas are ready to be served with the all time favorite Peanut chutney. If you want you can make the green chutney also but i prefer this taste.





Take a handful of peanuts, a few pieces of fresh coconut, a tsp of roasted chanadal ( putnala pappu) ,half tsp of jeera, three garlic pieces, green chillies 4 and a ball of tamarind, grind the ingredients with enough water, Do the tadka with mustards,jeera,curryleaves and a pinch of turmeric. Enjoy the dhokla with the chutney:)






12 comments:

Kalpana

I don't like Dokhla very much, but I like the pictures you've put up here. Very tempting and neat :-)
Happy Cooking!

Latha Narasimhan

Hi kalpana, You know what I too live in bangalore and I am happy to meet you! Just got to know about your blog! Blogging is just a hobby and sometime we do need a break!:))

Latha Narasimhan

Sorry instead of alpana I typed kalpana !:))

Bharathy

Welcome back after a short term break,again..:)

My husband wants me to try dhokla.:)..can I proceed??:)

Thanks for sharing alapana,esp the pictorials..hope they would make my job easier!!:)

New template looks pleasant :)

Shivapriya

Dhokla is on of my fav... I love the way u posted, step by step. Its been a while I made it. Ur's tempting me:).

Padmaja

hey hey!! i love dokhla and even this one, i haven't tried again and yet to recover from making a mess of this recipe!yours look perfect!!

Deepa Hari

Hi Alapana,
Dokhla looks yum..Nice presentation...I tried making them once, it tasted good but was not soft.

Srivalli

Hi...dokhla is my all time fav...yours look very tempting...btw..if you don't mind me saying few paragraphs are quite hard to read due to font colour..can you pls change them..other than that everything else looks wonderful!

Alapana

Kalapana,Thank you.

Latha or Lathamma as i saw Bharathi saying it,thank you and its so good to see you here:)

Bharathy,thank you.

Alapana

Padmaja,try it again,it would be good:)

deepa hari,try adding a little baking soda and also keep it aside for a few min,it would sure be soft.

Alapana

Shivapriya,make it for sure:)

Srivalli, changed the fonts now:) and no,i dont mind u saying it at all.

Pravs

dokhla with peanut chutney looks yummy. I make peanut chutney with curds.. have to try yours with tamarind and coconut. Was trying to avoid coconut in my version :)

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