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    Home » By Ingredient » Legumes » Green Gram ~ Mung Dal ~ Moong Dal

    Published: Sep 9, 2016 · Modified: May 8, 2023 by Usha Rao

    Moong Dal Dhokla ~ Savory Steamed Cake

    When finalizing the list for moong dal recipes for this month’s Cooking Carnival, Cooking with Protein Rich Ingredients, I remembered the moong dal dhokla I tried when we did the Indian Cooking Odyssey couple of years ago. I ended up posting Khaman Dhokla and I completely forgot about this moong dal dhokla.

    Blogging Marathon, Cooking Carnival, Protein Rich Food, Cooking With Protein Rich Ingredients, Cooking With Moong Dal, Moong Dal, Pesrau Pappu, Recipes with Moong, Recipes with Pesaru Pappu, Green Gram,  Indian Food, Gujarati Food,  Gujarati Cuisine, Dhokla, Moong Dal Dhokla, Steamed Savory Cake,

    When I considered doing dhokla for Gujarat, couple of years ago, I asked U’s aunt S, for the recipe. She gave me the recipe but when I made it, I either missed one ingredient or missed one step, I don’t remember now. Though the dhokla was edible, I did not feel like posting it. I was going to re-cook the dhokla and post it for CCC but that never happened. I am glad I picked moong dal as one of the protein rich ingredients for this month-long marathon and could revisit moong dhokla.

    Blogging Marathon, Cooking Carnival, Protein Rich Food, Cooking With Protein Rich Ingredients, Cooking With Moong Dal, Moong Dal, Pesrau Pappu, Recipes with Moong, Recipes with Pesaru Pappu, Green Gram,  Indian Food, Gujarati Food,  Gujarati Cuisine, Dhokla, Moong Dal Dhokla, Steamed Savory Cake,

    If you are new to Indian cooking or Gujarati cuisine, dhokla is a steamed savory cake made with fermented batter which is made of dals with or without rice. Vaishali has a bunch of dhokla recipes with various ingredients. Dhoklas are served as a breakfast, snack or as a light meal. These moong dal dhoklas were my lunch couple of days ago and I ate it all by myself!

    Blogging Marathon, Cooking Carnival, Protein Rich Food, Cooking With Protein Rich Ingredients, Cooking With Moong Dal, Moong Dal, Pesrau Pappu, Recipes with Moong, Recipes with Pesaru Pappu, Green Gram,  Indian Food, Gujarati Food,  Gujarati Cuisine, Dhokla, Moong Dal Dhokla, Steamed Savory Cake,

    Moong dhokla recipes l checked online do not call for fermenting the batter. Aunt S’s recipe does and another difference from rest of the recipes is this calls for only moong dal. Most of the recipes had some besan/gram flour as well. Since her recipe is different from what is available online, I went with her recipe. She did mention that sometimes she adds about 1 tablespoon of urad dal but I went without it.

    Blogging Marathon, Cooking Carnival, Protein Rich Food, Cooking With Protein Rich Ingredients, Cooking With Moong Dal, Moong Dal, Pesrau Pappu, Recipes with Moong, Recipes with Pesaru Pappu, Green Gram,  Indian Food, Gujarati Food,  Gujarati Cuisine, Dhokla, Moong Dal Dhokla, Steamed Savory Cake,

    She gave the ingredients and instructions to prepare dhokla and I eyeballed the measurements. I adjusted green chilies to taste and also added some sesame seeds though it was not part of the recipe. I made a small batch with ½ cup of moong dal and used a 2 ½ qt saucepan as steamer. I placed the batter in a 6 ½” cake pan that fit perfectly in my saucepan but 7 or 7 ½” pan will work as well, for this quantity. I fermented the batter overnight, more than 12 hours yet, I felt the batter did not ferment much. Nonetheless, the taste was good and dhoklas came out good.

    Blogging Marathon, Cooking Carnival, Protein Rich Food, Cooking With Protein Rich Ingredients, Cooking With Moong Dal, Moong Dal, Pesrau Pappu, Recipes with Moong, Recipes with Pesaru Pappu, Green Gram,  Indian Food, Gujarati Food,  Gujarati Cuisine, Dhokla, Moong Dal Dhokla, Steamed Savory Cake,

    Preparation: 10 - 15 minutes
    Fermenting: Overnight
    Steaming: 10 -12 minutes
    Serves: 2 - 3 depending on how it is served
    Yields: 24 - 30 pieces

    Ingredients:

    • ½ cup Moong Dal
    • ¼ cup Yogurt (add less or more depending on consistency)
    • 2 Green Chilies, ground to paste (¾ - 1 tsp.)
    • 1 Garlic Clove, ground to paste
    • ¼” Ginger, ground to paste (ginger garlic paste is ½ - ¾ tsp.)
    • ⅛ Cumin
    • ½ - ¾ tsp. Salt (adjust to taste. I used ¾ teaspoon and felt I should have used less.)
    • 1 teaspoon Fruit Salt
    • Lime Juice to taste (I did not use but felt I should have added a bit. Instead I sprinkled some on dhokla)
    • 1 teaspoon Oil
    • Pinch of Turmeric
    • Cilantro or Kothimir, chopped for garnish

    Tempering

    • 1 ½ - 2 teaspoon Oil
    • ¼ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
    • ¼ teaspoon Sesame Seeds (my addition)
    • 4-6 Curry Leaves, chopped (My curry leaves were big and tore them into 2-3 pieces)
    • 2-3 Green Chilies, chopped
    • Pinch of Salt
    • Dash of Turmeric
    • Dash to a pinch of Hing (I used a dash. A pinch is ⅛ teaspoon and I used ½ of that)
    • 2 tbsp. Water (my addition)

    Preparation:

    • Preparing Batter - Wash and soak moong dal for at least 5 hours or overnight.
    • Wash the dal again and put in a strainer to drain excess water.
    • Make a paste of green chilies, ginger and garlic.
    • Take the pastes to a food processor bowl, add cumin, salt and soaked moong dal. Add little yogurt at a time and grind the dal to a smooth paste and of pourable consistency. Do not add water and use yogurt if the batter is very thick. Batter should be of idli batter consistency.
    • Add oil and lime juice, if using.
    • Ferment the batter overnight.
    • Steaming - Apply oil to 6 ½” pan or dhokla plate.
    • Put a sauce pan to boil 1 ½ cups of water.
    • Place a steaming plate in it.
    • When water is boiling, add fruit salt to batter and mix immediately. Batter will fluff up. Do not over mix and pour it into greased pan.
    • Place the pan on steaming plate, cover the saucepan and steam on medium high flame for 10 - 12 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted comes out clean. I set the timer but forgot to start it. I think I steamed it for 10 minutes. If the toothpick or knife does not come out clean, steam it for few more minutes.
    • Turn off the heat, let the dhokla sit for 2 minutes and then remove from the steamer/ saucepan.
    • Let the dhokla cool for 5 minutes.
    • Tempering - Do the tempting by heating oil in a pan. When oil is hot, add curry leaves, mustard seeds, green chilies and let the chilies fry a bit.
    • Add hing. salt, turmeric and stir.
    • Add water and bring to a boil.
    • Pour this tempering on dhokla. You can pour the tempering before or after cutting the dhokla into cubes.
    • Serving - Let the tempering seep into dhokla for few minutes, sprinkle chopped cilantro and serve.
    • To serve, pull apart each cube from the pan/plate. Serve with green chutney.

    Note:

    • Lime Juice - I didn't add lime juice to batter and when eating dhokla, I missed the khutta (sour) taste in dhokla. I sprinkled some over the dhokla when eating. If you prefer lightly sour dhokla, add some lime juice to batter before fermenting. Just a few drops or you can squeeze later, as I did. I would prefer the former, though.
    • Green Chilies - I like chilies roasted in oil. I chopped the green chilies for the tempering and roasted them well. I can eat roasted chilies but not raw green chilies. The green chilies you see in the pictures are raw. When I sent my aunt a picture of dhokla before I plated it, she could barely see green chilies as I roasted them well in the tempering. She suggest I put long green chilies on dhokla as garnish as it looks good and people can pick it out, if they don't want it.

    This day in 2014: Haiti - Griot & Lima Beans Salad for Food of the World
    This day in 2015: Goli Baje ~ Managlore Bajji & Coconut Chutney from Karnataka and Coconut Chutney
    Events: This also goes to this week's Cooking from Cookbook Challenge.
    CCC Logo

    Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 68

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    1. Kalyani says

      June 06, 2017 at 8:13 am

      usha - I am planning to make it this weekend - so is 1/2 cup (125 ml) enough for 25-30 pieces ?

      Reply
      • MySpicyKitchen says

        June 06, 2017 at 9:09 am

        Yes Kalyani. I use regular measuring cup so 1/2 is almost 125 ml. It should yield 25-30 pieces.

        Reply
    2. Sowmya:) says

      October 13, 2016 at 9:16 am

      Bookmarked this recipe. I have never tried dhokla with moong dal, it sounds very interesting. Lovely pics!

      Reply
    3. Pavani says

      September 24, 2016 at 5:13 pm

      Soft and fluffy dhoklas, they look amazing. Lovely clicks to boot too.

      Reply
    4. Smruti | Herbivore Cucina says

      September 22, 2016 at 5:11 pm

      Lovely dhoklas Usha. And I loved the colors in the frame. The blue and yellow complement each other so well!!

      Reply
    5. Suma Gandlur says

      September 22, 2016 at 1:45 pm

      The moongdal dhoklas have come out soft and spongy. This version is a lot healthier breakfast optiom.

      Reply
    6. Priya Srinivasan says

      September 22, 2016 at 11:55 am

      Dhokla's are our favorite too, these look soft and fluffy. i have tried with dhuli moong, not with this yellow moong, I always add lot of sesame seeds, love that crunch!!! 🙂

      Reply
    7. Vaishali Sabnani says

      September 18, 2016 at 5:05 am

      Wow..the dhoklas look nice and spongy..normally the yellow moong daal dhoklas are not as spongy as these, very well made Usha. And, yes thanks for the mention.

      Reply
      • MySpicyKitchen says

        September 18, 2016 at 10:02 am

        Do you think mine are spongy because I add more fruit salt?

        Reply
    8. themadscientistskitchen says

      September 17, 2016 at 9:33 am

      Yum dhoklas Love the way you have presented them they like Kalyani said are very vibrant.

      Reply
    9. Sandhya Ramakrishnan says

      September 13, 2016 at 10:37 pm

      The dhoklas are just waiting to be picked up! Love the texture of the dhoklas.

      Reply
    10. srividhya says

      September 13, 2016 at 12:04 pm

      Amazing love your clicks and you know what just yesterday I posted khaman Dhokla. 😉

      Reply
    11. PRADNYA says

      September 11, 2016 at 10:34 pm

      beautiful looking dhoklas...i was wondering about the deep yellow color which came from turmeric i think...these are better than the regular chana dal dhoklas

      Reply
    12. Mireille Roc (@ChefMireille) says

      September 10, 2016 at 9:08 pm

      I tried this at buffet Pradnya took me to when in Mumbai and it was so good. Now you are inspiring me to try and make it myself 🙂

      Reply
    13. Harini-Jaya R says

      September 10, 2016 at 8:40 pm

      I agree with Kalyani, Usha. The latest pictures are sharper and somehow more catchy than before. Not to say that the previous ones were not good but there is a difference. :)Maybe just the color coordination as you pointed out.
      These dhoklas are a definite pick me up kinds !

      Reply
    14. kalyani says

      September 10, 2016 at 9:41 am

      your pics come alive with these yummy dhoklas... well made and great presentation. Have you changed the settings on ur camera, Usha ? these pics are very different and more vibrant than what I have seen so far (unless I am smitten by the colours u got there). great job !

      Reply
      • MySpicyKitchen says

        September 10, 2016 at 2:26 pm

        Kalyani, I shot them the usual way. I have not done anything different than I usually do. May be the colors and setup in this frame are more photogenic than the other setups.. :p I always shoot in manual mode, so I do change the settings based on the time of the day.

        Reply
    15. Srivalli Jetti says

      September 10, 2016 at 9:36 am

      The pictures are classic Usha..so fluffy and looks heavenly!...I love dhoklas and wish I could eat these right now!

      Reply
      • Culinary Xpress says

        September 10, 2016 at 1:12 pm

        The Moong Daal Dhokla looks really amazing Usha, bookmarked this one to try

        Reply
    16. Priya Suresh says

      September 10, 2016 at 2:08 am

      Wish i get a plate of this beautiful guilt free dhoklas with some green chutney, now am drooling over that plate.

      Reply
    17. Nalini says

      September 09, 2016 at 5:37 pm

      Soft and fluffy dhokla,I make the instant version never tried the fermented version.This sounds so inviting.

      Reply
    18. Gayathri Kumar says

      September 09, 2016 at 9:22 am

      The dhoklas look so soft and texture is so nice.

      Reply
    19. cookingwithsapana says

      September 09, 2016 at 8:32 am

      Moong dal dhoklas looks soft and delicious.We love eating dhoklas on weekends for breakfast.This goes in the bookmarks list.

      Reply

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