A - Z Indian Street Foods ~ L for Locho / Surti Locho

The first time I heard about 'locho' was on a Gujarati TV cook show that I used to watch religiously until a few years ago. I had bookmarked that recipe and had tried it a couple of times. Locho is a steamed dish that is served as a snack in Gujarat and as the title indicates, it originated in Surat city. It is prepared with ground lentil batter that is steamed and served with a drizzling of oil, sev, chutney and green chillies on the side. This dish is quite filling, healthy and guilt free. It makes a great brunch / meal time dish.

Locho batter does not any fermenting. However the dals need soaking and so at least 2 hours advance planning is required. Locho has irregular shape unlike dhokla / khaman and do not come in regular cut pieces. I added water generously while grinding the batter when I made locho for the first time and even 2 hours of steaming would not let the locho to set. I learnt my lesson that day and prefer making a thick batter now. And so, I end up with a firm shaped locho that could be cut into pieces. I paired it with Vaishali's peanut chutney, where peanuts are added to the regular green chutney which makes a flavorful variation.

Ingredients for locho:

1 cup split chickpeas / Bengal gram / chana dal

A handful split & skinned black gram / urad dal

A handful beaten rice flakes / poha

2 spicy green chillies

1-inch piece ginger

Salt to taste

1/8 tsp. turmeric powder

2 – 3 pinches of asafetida

¼ cup ground nut oil

1 Eno sachet

Crushed black pepper as required

Sev* to garnish

* Sev - Deep fried, crisp chickpea flour vermicelli available in any Indian grocery store.

Preparation of locho:

* Wash the dals and poha together for about 3 hours. Drain and grind them along with ginger, chillies and salt into a fine batter with as little water as possible. (I used my food processor to grind and added about a tbsp. or two of water.) Transfer the ground batter to a bowl. Add turmeric, asafoetida and 2 tbsp. of oil to the batter and mix well.

* Heat a steamer or dhokla maker with water.

* Grease the dhokla plates or the container used to steam the locho. When ready to steam, add Eno to the batter and stir well. Fill the greased dhokla plates / container with batter. (If using plates, fill upto ¾ th.) Sprinkle crushed black pepper uniformly. (Some sprinkle red chilli powder too.)

* Place the dhokla plates / container in the steamer. Steam them on low flame until a knife inserted at the center comes out clean. It may take about 20 minutes. Turn off the stove and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

 

Ingredients for peanut chutney:

¼ cup toasted and skinned peanuts

1 cup firmly packed cilantro leaves

1 or 2 spicy green chillies

Salt to taste

Lemon juice to taste

Preparation of chutney:

Add everything in the list above to a mixer / food processor. Add as much water as needed to facilitate grinding and grind finely. Refer to the chutney in the pictures above to determine how much quantity of water should be added for chutney making. 

How to serve locho:

* Remove the steamed locho container from the steamer. Drizzle with some oil over the top.

* Next, one can try either running a sharp spoon / knife around the edges, unmould the locho and cut into shapes.

Or with a spatula remove about 3-inch sized pieces. (The shape doesn't matter actually in case of locho and so no pressure in getting it right.)

* Arrange some locho pieces on a serving plate. Top with sev generously.

Serve with peanut chutney and green chillies on the side.

So far, on this series,
A for Aloo Kabli
B for Bajra Vada
C for Chooda Matar
D for Dahi Batata Puri
E for Elaichi - Kesar Lassi
F for Fulwadi
G for Ghugni Chaat
H for Hare Chane Ki Chaat
I for Indori Garaadu Chaat
J for Jamun Bun
K for Khakra - Chana Bhel 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 87

An InLinkz Link-up

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