At a time when health has been flung under the spotlight again, a visit to our trusted kitchens can help keep diseases and ailments at bay. Facilitating this trip are the recipe books of famed chefs from across the country, each of whom have torn a page from their handy guides to provide immunity-boosting recipes for us to try at home. Recipe by Chef Renu Dalal
As a child who grew up binging on gourmet meals, Chef Renu Dalal shadows the footsteps of her chef-mother, Late Tarla Dalal. Now, Chef Renu Dalal has scooped out her own niche: a modern twist to vegetarian cooking, each bite of which comes peppered with easy-to-follow playfulness for budding chefs. With two cookbooks already credited to her name—Modern Vegetarian Recipes, and Simple and Delicious Vegetarian Recipes—Chef Dalal now pens another immunity-boosting recipe for today’s pandemic-stricken days: Chana Dal and Palak Dhokla.
Chana Dal & Palak Dhokla (Split Chickpeas and spinach dhokla)
Ingredients
- 1 cup split chana dal (split chickpeas)
- 1 tablespoon curd
- ½ cup spinach puree
- 1 tablespoon ginger and green chilli paste
- 1 tablespoon fruit salt
- ½ cup coriander chutney
- Oil
- Chilli powder
- Salt to taste
Method
- Soak chana dal in water for three to four hours.
- Next, rinse the dal and add ½ cup water. Blend in a mixer to make chickpea flour.
- Mix curd, ginger and green chilli paste, spinach puree, and two tablespoons of water in the chickpea flour. Blend together in a mixer.
- Add salt and fruit salts, and mix till the batter turns frothy.
- Grease a thali (a round platter) with oil.
- Pour the batter over the thali and shake till it spreads evenly.
- Steam the spread-out batter in a steamer for eight to nine minutes till the dhoklas are cooked.
Plating
- Once the dhoklas cool down, cut into pieces.
- Serve with coriander chutney or with a mixture of oil and chilli powder.
- Garnish with a tempering of oil, mustard seeds, and curry leaves.
Benefits
Editor’s Note: Keeping the current situation of the pandemic in mind, T+L India recommends every reader to stay safe, and take all government-regulated precautions in case travel at this time is absolutely necessary. Please follow our stories on #IndiaFightsCorona for all the latest travel guidelines.
Related: Red Pepper & Amla Dip: Immunity-Boosting Dish By Chef Natasha Gandhi