A recipe that refuses to go right

It’s an Indian snack that isn’t a complicated recipe. There are mixes aplenty in the supermarkets from MTR and other brands. But I figure that making food from the basic ingredients is healthier than the mixes – especially when there is a lot of negative publicity these days in the media about adulteration of many foodstuffs.

The dhokla is a healthy snack – it’s cooked by steaming in a pressure cooker or a steamer. The first time I tried it, I got the instructions from my mate at work. Gram flour, curd, salt, turmeric powder, ginger-garlic, chilli – mix – wait for a couple of hours, cook in the pressure cooker without the weight.

The finished product wasn’t edible. It didn’t look like the pictures on the internet. Anyone who tasted it couldn’t swallow it, including me. Into the bin it went.

My friend from work checked with her mom who informed her that the batter needed to stay overnight to ferment – that reminds me of the curd making incident. I hadn’t left it long enough to ferment. That must have been the issue.

I tried once again after a week – needed time for my creative ego to recover. This time, since nothing could go wrong, I made a bigger quantity which was a big mistake.  I should have gone with the earlier measure. After an hour in the pressure cooker (and replenishing the water in the pan), there was an uncooked layer of yellow goo floating on top. I got back from work and it still hadn’t solidified. I thought a few hours of standing would harden the mass. Into the bin went that effort.

I am gathering my wits for one more attempt. This is one dish that isn’t going to beat me!! I think.