Khaman

Now this is authentic Gujarati Khaman. We call this dish “vaati daal naa khaman” because this used the ground split chickpeas.  This is a long process just like making Idlis and dosas from scratch. You make Nylon khaman right away using besan. Anything nylon is not authentic and instant!  Just like the fabric itself. But this khaman dish takes time and effort to make and thus, tastes so much more better than the Nylon Khaman.  Frankly, I hadn’t made this khaman in a long time, maybe 3 years or so. Everytime we feel like having khaman, I would go for besan and make nylons.  I happen to have  4 lbs. of split chickpea bag that I bought over Christmas period last year.  I thought, let’s make khaman this time, the proper way. And I am glad I did. They came out so good, I can’t even describe that taste in words.  I also gave some to my Marathi co worker and she now absolutely is in favor if this khaman over nylon khaman.

Here’s how I made it.

Khaman

Ingredients

1 cup split chickpea, soaked overnight

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

A pinch of turmeric powder

½ tsp citic acid

1 tsp Eno fruit salt

Water as required

How to:

Grind the soaked chick peas with salt in a blender to smooth consistency, adding just enough water to run the blender smoothly.

Adjust the water quantity. It should be thicker, just like idli batter.

Leave it overnight in a warm place to ferment.

Heat up a big sauce pot with water in it.

Boil the water.

Grease a deep pan(I used 8” cake pan) with oil and set aside.

In the meantime, add citric acid, pepper and turmeric to the fermented batter.

Once the water boils, then only sprinkle Eno on top of the batter. You will see lots of bubbles instantly forming up on the top layer.

Now gently fold the batter to incorporate the Eno.

Pour in the greased plate, steam it for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare tempering.

Once cool down, cut into pieces and pour over prepared tempering.

Enjoy!

Ingredients for tempering:

3 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustart seeds

Pinch of Asofoetida

Green chillies and cilantro leaves and shredded, fresh coconut for garnish(Optional)

Heat up the oil, add mustard seeds.

Once the seeds crackled, add asofoetida, green chilles(chopped) and pour over the prepared khaman.