Khaman dhokla is an Indian steamed bread made from a fermented batter. It is traditionally eaten for breakfast or snack but is also nice as an appetizer.
Mix the chickpea flour, rice flour, yogurt, and water in a glass container and allow to ferment at room temperature for 8-12 hours.
When you are ready to make the dhokla, mix in the spices, baking soda, and oil.
Pour the batter into a 6-inch cake pan, cover with tinfoil, and steam for 15-25 min (until a knife comes out clean). See the section above for an easy homemade steamer.
Heat the oil and fry the spices and coconut until they are fragrant and just starting to brown.
Pour the toasted spices over the freshly steamed dhokla. Top with cilantro and serve warm.
Notes
Though yogurt is traditional in this recipe, feel free to substitute it with milk kefir or buttermilk.
Instead of chickpea flour, you could use just rice flour, lentil flour, garfava flour, etc. Though changing the flour would officially change the type of dhokla, it doesn’t really affect the recipe.