Palak Dhokla : Steamed Spinach Lentil Cakes

This Palak Dhokla is another attempt of mine to make our breakfasts as nutritious as possible – The flavoursome combination of palak and the dhokla is such a delight to bite into, the addition of crunchy tadka taking it to another level altogether!

Breakfast is something that I try to make myself everyday, because I always end up having a working lunch, most days, in a hurry, so I really *need* to work on packing enough nutrition into an easily to make recipe, because I am so not a morning person and having to make an elaborate recipe drains me to no end. This Palak Dhokla is super healthy and packed with nutrition and has been my go-to on days when I don’t know what to make to make everybody in the house happy.

Palak has always been a part of my diet, growing up primarily in a vegetarian household, because Mom is one. Of course she’d make non-veg for Dad and us, but our usually meals were usually packed with veggies. The fact that it helps so much with your iron intake, and has enough fiber also that helps in digestion, is enough for me to try and squeeze it into our meals. And what better and tastier way than to combine it with the ever so tempting Dhokla?

I always have had a love-hate relationship with Gujarati food. I love some of it, especially the snacks. The farsaan as they call it, the sheer variety they have in food is mindblowing and most of it, is vegetarian. I love eating it for short times but then somewhere the inherent sweetness gets to me and I crave the spicy food back.

But then, dhokla is a different ball game altogether. I can eat it for days together. It has the full potential to be India’s national dish I would think. I mean show me one person who doesn’t know the dhokla? The spongy, sweet and sour gram flour cake which is synonymous with Gujju food worldwide.

I have grown up eating those, buying them for the neighbouring sweet shop. And then my mum’s version, where she used to put a tadka of lightly sauteed onions, soaked in vinegar. Those delightful crunchy pinkish onions are now an important part of my dhokla eating experience though I can indeed see my Gujarati friends wincing when they hear this.

But then, as usual I digress, today I will show you my healthy twist on the dhokla. Palak dhokla, one of the tastiest way to get the daily quota of greens in your body. Taste and health saath saath! The flavoursome combination is such a delight to bite into – the crunchy tadka taking it to another level altogether. Here’s the recipe:

Oh, and here’s the video if you prefer watching how I made it, instead:

Here’s some more recipes with Palak :

Garden To Plate -Palak Rice

Palak Chutney

Palak chicken

Palak Dhokla : Steamed Spinach Lentil Cakes

This Palak Dhokla is another attempt of mine to make our breakfasts as nutritious as possible - The flavoursome combination of palak and the dhokla is such a delight to bite into, the addition of crunchy tadka taking it to another level altogether!

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine gujarati

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

For the dhokla

• 1 cup besan
• 1/2 cup spinach puree
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup curd
• 2 green chillies chopped finely
• 1 inch piece ginger grated
• 1 tsp eno
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp oil

for the tadka

• 1 tsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 tsp Sesame seeds mix of white and black
• 4 green chillies slit
• A generous pinch of hing
• A few curry leaves
• A handful of fresh coriander leaves
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• A pinch of sugar
• 1/4 cup water

Instructions

 

Making the dhokla:

• To make the spinach puree, first blanch the spinach by letting it stand in boiling water for 20-30 seconds and immediately shifting it to a bowl of ice cold water. This will help spinach retain it’s colour to bright green.
• Puree the blanched spinach along with ginger and green chillies. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the gram flour (besan), salt, sugar till everything is evenly mixed.
• Add the spinach puree, curd, oil and lemon juice to the besan mixture along with a little water at a time and blend. We want thick yet pourable batter,
• Set it aside for resting for about 30 minutes, it helps the flavours blend well.
• While the batter is resting, get your steaming device ready. Fill some water in the cooker or steamer and bring it to boil. You can simply cook this in microwave as well but I find it tends to dry a bit in the microwave. If you don’t have a steamer, use your idly stand. Who said dhokla always needs to be square anyway?
• When the steamer is ready sprinkle the eno over the dhokla batter and gently mix to that eno is spread through. Don’t overmix.
• Immediately pour the batter in the greased moulds and steam on high flame for about 15-17 minutes till the tooth pick comes out clean.

Making the tadka :

• Heat oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds, let it splutter, add the asafoetida, sesame seeds, curry leave and green chilly, and allow it to crackle.
• Add the sugar, water and lemon juice. Bring to boil.Pour this liquid evenly over the dhokla.
• Cut in desired shape and serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!