ढोकला

The tradition & historical record

Dhokla or dokla is a savoury sponge dish that originated in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is made with a fermented batter that is steamed to a cake-like consistency. The batter consists of a mixture of rice with Bengal gram,, a variety of chickpea, but has several variants with the gram replaced by pigeon peas, or urad beans. In 2018, it was reported that Ahmedabad reportedly had daily consumption of 10,000 kgs of Dhokla. ¹

Dukkia, a pulse-based precursor of dhokla, is mentioned in a Jain text dated to 1066 CE. The earliest extant work to mention the word "dhokla" is the Gujarati Varanaka Samuchaya (1520 CE). ¹

Dried rice and split chickpeas (chana dal) are soaked overnight. The mixture is grounded and the paste is fermented for at least four hours. Spices are added, such as chili pepper, coriander, and ginger. The fermented batter is then steamed for about 15 minutes, and cut into pieces. These chopped pieces are seasoned with sauteed mustard seeds or cumin seeds, green chilies and curry leaves. Dhokla is usually served with deep fried chillies and coriander chutney, and garnished with fresh coriander and/or grated coconut. ¹

Popular variants of dhokla include: ¹

Khatta dhokla Rasia dhokla Moong dal dhokla Khandavi dhokla Cheese dhokla Toor dal dhokla Sandwich dhokla Rava dhokla Mixed dal dhokla Green peas dhokla Meetha dhokla Besan dhokla Khaman is similar but made from chickpea flour without rice. It is generally lighter in colour and softer than dhokla. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Dhokla”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

dhokla is Indian vegetarian dish, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 4 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²