Site icon Masalachilli

Dakor Na Gota (Non-fried / Appe Pan Version)

Vidya Narayan

Dakor Na Gota (Non-fried / Appe Pan Version)

Kem Chho? Majja Ma… The always smiling, very friendly are the Gujarati community in general. They are fun loving and love to socialize. Gujarati Cuisine has always been one of my favourites. Not because its our neighbouring state or the fact that I have quite a lot of friends who are Gujaratis and I have grown up eating umpteen theplas, khakras, undhiyo, Ganthia and the fafda jalebis on Sundays too. So, yes, I love their food and since I like a bit of sweet in my food, their cuisine becomes all the more “my kinda meal”.

The theme for the Facebook Group Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge this month was Gujarati Cuisine. I was paired with Nisa FD who blogs at The Flavour Diary. Do check out her blog for some delicious recipes. She gave me 2 secret ingredients (1) Besan (2) Salt and I made this absolutely delicious snack called Dakor na Gota.

Farsan is something that belongs truly to Gujarat. It is nothing but small snack items, that are both steamed and deep fried with a prime ingredient, Besan or Gram flour or Chickpea flour. Even their thali has a small portion of farsan either in the form of a dhokla or a khandvi, without which their meals are termed as incomplete. They take great pride in dishing out a wide variety of snacks, some of which are popular street side foods too like Dabeli, Kachori, Bhajiyas etc.

I was sure that I wanted to make a Farsan / snack item for this challenge and hence couldn’t think of anyone other than the Queen of Indian vegetarian cooking (esp the Gujarati dishes), the Late Mrs. Tarla Dalal. An icon in the food world, especially vegetarian cooking, she was an inspiration to many homemakers. I have grown up watching her TV shows and read her cookbooks, in fact own some of them too and hence wanted to try a recipe only from her website this time. The recipe is from here with few changes according to our taste and preferences.

I was also very clear that even though I wanted to try a farsan item, I wouldn’t deep fry anything so I was glad the appe pan, which is honestly used to make more than just appes at my home, came to my rescue. After the first batch was done, I tested umm.. tasted it and it was just perfectly cooked from the inside, which is usually the worry when cooking in appe pan. Mostly the centre remains a bit raw so the trick of closing the pan with a lid while cooking really worked. I usually do this for urad dal wadas (when I crave my fav Dahi Wada) too and tried the same trick here, which was successful.

The Gujarati cuisine is distributed into North Gujarat, Kathiawad, Kutch, Central Gujarat and South Gujarat. Each part has something unique to offer in terms of taste and dishes. Some are sweet while the others are spicy. A typical Gujarati thali comprises of snacks or farsans, array of chutneys, shaak or Vegetables that may be dry or wet (gravy based), a Kathol that is usually pulses with some yoghurt and chickpea flour or tomato-onion gravy. A kadhi (buttermilk spiced with whole spices and thickened with gram flour) which are either sweet or savoury., raw veggies called sambhariyu which are generally grated veggies tossed with some oil and mustard seeds, sesame tossed with lemon juice. Flatbreads are called Rotlas or Theplas or Dhebras with flours like Jowar, Bajra (during winters). Rice or Moong Dal Khichdi is served with ghee. The thali basically has a mix of everything and is usually ended on a sweet note. Gujarat boasts of a wide variety of sweets like their famous Mohanthal, Son Papdi, Jalebis, Basundi etc.

The Northern part of Gujarat is mostly towards dairy industry and includes regions like Gandhinagar, Mehsana etc. Kathiawad is part of Saurashtra region. It borders the Gulf of Kutch to the west. Some of the districts famous in Kutch area are Gir Somnath, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar, Rajkot etc. A large part of Kutch is known as Rann of Kutch which submerges in water during the rainy season and becomes dry in other seasons. They are basically salt flats which turn snow white after monsoons are over and the water dries up. Many tourists visit the place during the winters when the weather is cold and pleasant to witness this sheer magic and beauty of nature. Central Gujarat comprises of the very famous Ahmedabad, Vadodara or Baroda, Anand, Kheda etc. Ahmedabad city is very famous for its food offerings and ManekChowk. If you want to taste some amazing and pocket friendly snacks of Gujarat along with some fusion combinations, ManekChowk is the place to visit. South Gujarat is the coastal part of Gujarat with hilly terrains, Saputara being the highest peak. The very famous Surat is the largest city in this region followed by Bharuch, Navsari, Valsad, Bharuch, Ankleshwar etc. The iconic place (Dandi) which we remember for the famous Salt March by Mahatma Gandhi is just 45 kms from Surat.

The dish, Dakor na Gota originated and derives its name from Dakor which is located in Kheda district (located 35 kms from Ahmedabad) and is famous for Ranchodraiji temple of Lord Krishna. Ranchor is the name given to Lord Krishna when he fled from the battlefield in Mathura while fighting against Jarasandha. They usually make this for festive occasions and also serve as regular snacks / street food snacks too. However, this is a holi special snack in Dakor. Variations to this Gota are addition of fenugreek leaves or methi leaves which are called as Methi nu Gota. The recipe remains the same with just an addition of finely chopped methi leaves along with coriander leaves.

A highly addictive farsan or snack, once you make these Dakor Na Gota, I am sure it would be a regular feature at your home (why not – with the appe pans). Serve it to your guests with loads of tamarind and date chutney (the meetha / sweet chutney) and they would love it too.

Read the recipe below and make a batch during the weekend. If you are interested in trying another Gujarati Farsan / Snack recipe, do check out Patra / Alu wadi or check out this amazing dessert Basundi that is sugar free on the blog.

Disclaimer – Information related to Gujarat is from Wikipedia, which has been duly edited and posted.

Recipe for Dakor Na Gota (please go through the recipe notes first) Step by step pics provided. 

Prep Time – 10 mins

Cook Time – 30 mins

Serves – 15 appes

Ingredients

  1. 1 cup Besan or Gram Flour or Chickpea Flour
  2. ½ cup Semolina or Rava
  3. 2 tblsp of ginger and green chilli paste
  4. 1 tblsp of cumin seeds
  5. ½ tsp Haldi or Turmeric powder
  6. ¼ tsp of red chilli powder
  7. ½ tsp of garam masala powder
  8. 1 tblsp of Saunf or fennel seeds
  9. 1 tblsp of Coriander seeds or Dhania
  10. 2 tblsp of sesame seeds
  11. 1 tsp of black pepper powder
  12. 1 tblsp of sugar
  13. 1 tsp of lemon juice
  14. Baking soda – ¼ tsp
  15. 1 tsp of oil for adding in the batter + few tsps of oil for cooking the gotas in appe pan
  16. Finely chopped Coriander leaves – ½ cup
  17. Water – ¾ cup + 2 tblsps

Method –

  1. In a bowl, add besan (ideal to sift the besan first to get a lumpfree batter).
  2. Now add semolina and the rest of the ingredients except the baking soda to enable form a dropping consistency batter.
  3. Meanwhile, heat an appe pan, add few drops of the oil.
  4. Add the baking soda to the batter and then mix it well once again.
  5. Now pour the batter and then reduce the flame to its lowest point and cover the appe pan and let the gotas cook for few minutes.
  6. Once its cooked from the bottom and the sides, flip it gently and then let it cook on the other side as well by adding few drops of oil. Cover the pan again to enable it cook well.
  7. Prepare the rest of the gotas in the similar manner along with the rest of the batter mixture.

Recipe Notes –

If you like & appreciate my work, please subscribe to the blog and receive the recipes via email. You may also follow me on social media and encourage my work, links given below. Cheers! 

Vidya Narayan

Exit mobile version