Rava dhokla is a soft, fluffy, steamed savory cake made from rava (suji or semolina or cream of wheat) together with herbs, spices, white sesame seeds and topped with coconut and coriander leaves
Mix all the ingredients mentioned under the list 'Main ingredients' except for the fruit salt.
The batter has to be slightly thicker than the idli batter. The batter should not be thin or very thick.
Keep aside for 15 to 20 minutes.
Meanwhile add 2 cups water in a steamer pan or saucepan. Also place a small trivet inside the water before you begin to heat it. Let the water come to a gentle boil on medium heat.
Grease a pan with oil.
Add the eno to the batter and stir briskly. Don't overdo the mixing as you don't want the air bubbles to escape.
Quickly pour the batter in the prepared greased pan.
Spread evenly and shake the pan to even out the batter.
Steaming rava dhokla
Keep the pan with the batter in the steamer or sauce pan on top of the trivet.
Cover the steamer or sauce pan with a lid and steam for about 15 to 20 minutes on medium heat.
I used an electric steamer and steamed for exact 20 minutes.
Check with a toothpick to see the doneness and if the toothpick comes out clean without any batter particles sticking to it, then the suji dhokla is steamed well.
Remove and allow to cool for 5 to 6 minutes.
You can temper directly or unmould the rava dhokla carefully in a serving plate and then slice and then temper it.
Making tempering
Heat oil in a small pan. First add the mustard seeds. Let them crackle first.
Then add cumin seeds and allow to crackle them.
Add the asafoetida (hing), white sesame seeds and curry leaves and fry for some seconds.
Switch off the heat. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water in the tempering.
Be careful as the oil is hot and adding water would create a splurge. So add the water carefully and from a safe distance.
Pour the tempering mixture evenly over the rava dhokla.
Top with some chopped coriander leaves or freshly grated coconut.
Slice and serve suji ka dhokla warm or cool with an accompanying chutney of your choice like mint chutney or green chutney or cilantro chutney. It can also be packed in lunch box as a snack.
Notes
Use the fine variety of suji or rava and not the coarser variety.
The batter is slightly thicker than the idli batter. But don't make it very thick as this will make the sooji dhokla have a dense or chewy texture. Also don't make it very thin.
Instead of eno you can use baking soda. But 1 teaspoon of baking soda would give a lot of its soapy odour in the dish. So I would suggest adding ½ teaspoon of baking soda. Note that this much amount also will give some soapy odour. So according to your preferences, you can even add ¼ to ⅓ teaspoon of baking soda.
The recipe can be scaled to make a bigger batch for gettogether or parties.