Nylon khaman without eno and curd

Nylon khaman without eno and curd | Instant nylon khaman | Gujrati khaman recipe with step wise pictorial and video recipe.

WHAT IS KHAMAN ?

Khaman is a kind of steamed savoury cake made up of soaked and freshly ground channa dal or channa flour, also named as gram flour or besan.

Khaman is very popular breakfast/snack from the state of Gujarat, India.

Spongy, fluffy and with a hint of sweetness, khaman is light on stomach and considered as healthy anytime snack.

WHY IT IS ATTRIBUTED AS NYLON KHAMAN ?

The reason of it being called with the name NYLON lies in it texture.

It’s softness and sponginess is to such a level that it melts in mouth immediately.

ARE KHAMAN AND DHOKLA ARE SAME?

Dhokla is another popular dish from the land of Gujarat and you might have noticed that khaman and dhokla are usually named together as one single dish and we too used to call it the same way.

But all thanks to our dear friend Ms. Maitri Gandhi, basically hailing from Gujarat, who cleared this misconception.

Khaman and Dhokla are totally different made using different ingredients.

The key difference between the both are:

1. Khaman is made from gram flour (besan) batter. Dhokla is made from a mixture of rice and lentils. Even it can be made from idli batter too.

2. Khaman has a deep yellow colour whereas colour of Dhokla varies and depends on the lentil you are using. If made with Idli batter, it will obviously be white and if cooked with moong dal, chana dal or green mong dal, it will be slightly be pale yellow, yellowish and greenish respectively.

3. Khaman has a melt in mouth texture being soft and spongy whereas Dhokla is though spongy, but is bit denser.

Meaning thereby, both are utterly different but oftenly called interchangeably by non Gujratis, which, of course, is the wrong.

DO’S AND DON’T’S

1. Always make khaman only after measuring the ingredients. Guess work may go wrong at times.

2. Never use oil which is flavoured and having a strong smell like, mustard or peanut oil. We have used refined oil. Such oil has neither a smell not taste.

3. No hard and fast rule that you have to put the batter at rest for 15 minutes only, as suggested in this recipe, you may go beyond this too without any harm.

4. But it is IMPORTANT to note that ADD BAKING SODA only and only when you are ready to steam khaman. You have to add baking soda IMMEDIATELY before steaming and not much prior. This point is so important that we have added it in NOTES section below, one more time.

5. As above said, for the same reason, keep your bowl ready with greasing and steamer should also be reaady with boiling got water.

6. Quantity of water is very important because it may be the key ingredient to make your khaman more dense and soggy, if measurement goes wrong.

INGREDIENTS USED IN MAKING NYLON KHAMAN

Here we will discuss about few of the ingredients, about which, certain if’s & but’s are attached :

1. GRAM FLOUR (BESAN) : Always use good quality of fresh gram flour. Making khaman with outdated and old may have negative impact on the taste of your khaman. You may feel the bitterness in every bite, probably.

2. CORN STARCH : Corn starch and corn flour is one and the same thing. Adding it gives a height to the khaman and khaman remains stand tall.

3. SUGAR : In the given recipe, we have powdered the sugar before using. But at times we have added sugar without powdering it. And never found any difference between the two versions. Choose the way you feel fine.

4. CITRIC ACID : The hindi names for citric acid are Tatri or Sat phool. Tatri comes in a crystal form. You can keep Tatri in your pantry after powdering it and use in making this recipe comfortably.

Few people use lemon juice in place of Citric acid, but as we haven’t tried that way personally, can’t comment upon the results.

IS IT VEGAN AND GLUTENFREE ?

This recipe is absolutely Vegan and Glutenfree.

There are 2 more ingredients which could be added herein. A tablespoon of semolina and pinch of Asafoetida. But both these ingredients have gluten.

You can add them if no issues with both.

It is to be mentioned that semolina is to be added in batter and asafoetida in batter or tempering or even in both, balancing the ratio.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

Traditionally Khaman is served with a Chutney made using khaman only, ofcourse, with other ingredients too.

This too we learnt from dear friend Maitri.

Sometimes, we cherish khaman with anardana pudina chutney and occasionally with Green chutney. And when that too is not available, Green chilli hot sauce goes best for us. As kids can’t bear spiciness, so our son loved to have khaman with Tomato Ketchup. Lol.

OTHER SIMILAR RECIPES

The other 3 recipes are a way different in terms of being non vegan and with gluten.

1. Dhokla with ENO : This recipe uses ENO with less amount of curd/yoghurt.

2. DHOKLA WITHOUT ENO : This recipe has no ENO but made with good amount of curd.

3. TRICOLOUR DHOKLA : This recipe is made specially for the occasions of Independance and Republic Day. It has no artificial colours and it is full of health.

Step Wise pictorial recipe of Nylon khaman without eno and curd

MAKING OF KHAMAN

Grind citric acid and sugar together to a very fine powder.
Transfer the powder into a bowl.
Add turmeric, salt, oil and water. Mix well so that everything gets completely dissolved.
Place a sieve on the bowl and add gram flour and corn flour in it.
Sift into a bowl.
Whisk for at least 3 to 4 minutes leaving no lumps behind.
Cover the bowl and rest for 15 minutes.
Till the time, ready your steamer and also grease the bowl, in which khaman has to be steamed, with oil.
After the duration of 15 minutes are over, take up the bowl carrying batter and add baking soda in it.
Whisk vigorously for at least a minute.
IMMEDIATELY transfer the batter into greased bowl.
Put the bowl into the steamer and steam for 20 minutes.
After the said period, take a toothpick and insert it in khaman. If the toothpick comes out clean, it’s a sign that khaman is steamed perfectly.
Take the bowl out of streamer and place it on a cooling rack for cooling.
Once it is completely cool, run a knife from the edges to loosen the khaman.
Invert into a plate and cut into reasonable sized pieces.

PREPARATION OF TEMPERING

Add oil in a tempering bowl.
Add mustard seeds and let them crackle.
Add curry leaves and green chillies and let them too roast for couple of seconds.
Add water and let water begin to boil.
Pour this tempering all over the khaman evenly.
Garnish with fresh corainder leaves/cilantro and grated fresh coconut.
Nylon khaman is ready.

Enjoy chilled.

NOTES

Add Baking Soda ONLY AND ONLY when you are ready to steam khaman. You have to add baking soda IMMEDIATELY before steaming and not much prior. So this is important to keep your bowl ready with grasing and the steamer should be ready with boiling water.