Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup Besan (chickpea flour)
- 3/4 tbsp Semolina/Sooji/Rawa
- 1/4 tsp Citric acid (nimbu ka phool)
- 3/4 tbsp Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1 tsp Ginger+green chilli (I use serrano pepper) paste
- 1/8 tsp Haldi (turmeric powder)
- 3/4 tsp Fruit salt (I use eno-lemon flavor; you can get this at any Indian grocery stores)
- For the glaze:
- 1/2 tsp Sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
- 11/2 tsp Oil
- 1/3 cup Water
- 1 Serrano pepper - cut horizontally into 1/2 inch thick pieces
- Finely chopped cilantro
- Grated coconut
Method:
- This recipe requires to be steam-cooked. Now, those of you who are not familiar with steam-cooking, it is a process of cooking with the heat from the steam wherein the food being cooked gets direct contact of ONLY the steam and not the boiling water. This is very important. To know more about this process, this article in wikipedia gives a decent description. Now, if you don't have a steam-cooker like I do, there is no need to worry, we can always improvise! What you'd basically need is a big pot with a lid, a plate with at least 1/2 inch wall (something like this) that is smaller in diameter than the pot so that it can be placed into the pot and a steamer rack like this one or a bowl of sorts which will elevate the plate above the boiling water so that the bottom of the plate comes in contact only with the steam. I have always used all stainless-steel utensils for the steamer so I wouldn't be able to vouch for other materials like glass/bamboo... But if you do, please leave me the details in a comment below!
- Please note, my ingredients are for a plate that is 61/2 inches in diameter and about 1/2 an inch deep; so if the size of your plate varies drastically, alter the quantities proportionately!
- In your pot, place the steamer rack with enough water so that it stays below the level of your steamer rack. Put this pot on high heat and make sure to cover it
- In a bowl, mix besan, sooji, nimbu ka phool, sugar and salt together (sift the besan if it has lumps)
- Add oil & water and whisk it until you get smooth consistency (make sure you don't have any lumps in the mixture)
- Stir in the ginger+green chilli paste and haldi
- Spray your plate with some non-stick cooking spray or just coat it with a few drops of oil
- Once your water has started to boil, add the fruit salt to your mixture and mix well. You will notice that the mixture rises.
- Pour the mixture in your plate and place it in the pot. Be careful not to get burnt by the steam.. Reduce the heat while placing the plate in your pot, cover the lid and increase the heat back to high again
- Cook for 10-12 minutes. To check, you can reduce the heat, remove the lid (ensure you don't tilt the lid while removing or else you'll have water droplets in your khaman!) and insert a knife in the middle of the khaman. If it comes out clean, your khaman has cooked completely. Take the plate out of the pot.
- For the glaze:
- In a small saucepan, heat the sesame seeds until they crack; take them out into a bowl
- In the same saucepan, heat the mustard seeds until they crack; take them out in a bowl
- Again, in the same saucepan, heat the oil. Once the oil is hot, turn off the heat and add water and serrano pepper
- Cut the khaman in the plate horizontally and vertically to form square pieces of your desired size (I prefer them to be of 1 to 11/2 inch in length)
- Sprinkle the cracked sesame and mustard seeds. Using a spoon or a shallow ladle, pour the oil+pepper+water combination to cover all the pieces
- Garnish with cilantro and grated coconut
- To remove the khaman pieces from the plate, use a stainless steel spatula and insert it where you've formed cuts and push it forward so you have a few pieces on your spatula. Once you've removed the first couple of pieces, it is fairly simple to remove the others; follow the same process
Serving suggestion:
Serve with cilantro peanut dipEnjoy!!
