Author Notes: Khaman as it is known as, is a vibrant dish of steamed dumplings and the mustard – sesame dressing with fresh coconut and cilantro adds up to an amazing mix of colors and flavors . —PistachioDoughnut
Serves: 4
Ingredients
Seasoning
-
2
tablespoons Oil
-
1
teaspoon Mustard seeds
-
2
Green chillies cut into slits
-
2
teaspoons Sesame Seeds
-
A
pinches Asafoetida
-
4
tablespoons Water
-
3
tablespoons Fresh Coconut grated
-
handfuls Cilantro
Steamed Dumplings or Khaman
-
1
cup Chana Dal
-
1
tablespoon Urad Dal
-
1/4
cup Yogurt
-
1/4
cup water
-
1/8
teaspoon Turmeric Powder
-
1
tablespoon Chickpea Flour or Besan
-
2
teaspoons Ginger paste
-
2
teaspoons Green Chilis paste
-
1
tablespoon lemon juice
-
2
tablespoons Oil
-
1/2
teaspoon Baking Soda or Eno
-
11/2
teaspoon Sugar
Directions
- Wash and soak both the dals overnight or at least 7 to 8 hours.
- Drain out the water from the dals and add the yogurt and dals to a mixer grinder , add the 1/4 cup of water also.
- Now, take out the mixture and add in the chickpea flour, turmeric, salt , one teaspoon of sugar and keep it to ferment for some hours or preferably overnight. Keep it in a warm place like oven or microwave to ferment.
- Just before making the dumplings , add in the ginger-chili paste, lemon juice, oil and soda bicarbonate. Mix well. Do not over mix it. we want a smooth batter.
- Now, keep a pressure cooker or a steamer ready filled in with water on stove to start the steaming process. We will need to keep a small pot on which we are going to place our dish with the batter. We do not want the steaming water to get in the batter. Grease a dish with good high edges with some oil.
- Pour in the mixture into the greased dish half up, as the dumplings would rise. we need to allow it to rise so that we are using a high edged dish. Cover it with pressure cooker top or the steaming vessel cover. And, cook it for about 20 minutes on high flame.
- Side by side , for the seasoning. Take a pan, add the oil let it heat up , add up the mustard seeds, asafoetida and let them crackle. Once the seeds crackle , add the green chilies slits and sesame seeds, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 4 tablespoons of water .
- Once the dumplings are done after 20 minutes, keep them for about 10 minutes to cool off properly before cutting them into pieces. Once cooled off , cut the dumplings into 1 inch squares. Arrange them in a dish side by side.
-
Sprinkle the seasoning on top of each dumpling to coat them with the seasoning. Sprinkle the grated coconut and the chopped cilantro. Serve it with green mint-cilantro chutney.
For parties, arrange each dumpling on chutney with toothpicks. - For variation , I add spinach to the batter and it gives it a nice green color and taste of spinach. You can also, add pea puree to the batter .