In Your Kitchen: Cooking with Riddhima
Riddhima Kotak is a true Kitchen Therapy story. A studious student with a master’s degree in Accounting and Financial Management from Reading University, UK, she returned to Mumbai fuelled with motivation and dedication to her career.
As a kid, she loitered around the kitchen frequently watching her grandmother and mother cook away, and it slowly became her favourite part of the day. As she got older, she took to the kitchen more often than before, and as she churned out one delicious cookie after another, an idea began. A decision, she calls “spur of the moment”, made three years ago to start Kookies & More has changed her life and is a source of pure joy and happiness.
Let’s learn more about her below.
10 Questions with Riddhima
Day Job: Owner of Kookies & More, a home-based bakery
Lives in: Mumbai
In the kitchen, I couldn’t live without: Chocolate and vanilla bean
Current food obsession: Mangoes
If I could cook for anyone: Ranbir Kapoor
A traditional family dinner is: Roti, dal and vegetable
Go-to comfort food: Khichdi
Next travel destination: London and France. But Greece is in the pipelines too!
Currently reading: Together Tea by Marjan Kamali
My motto: “There are only two days in a year you cannot do anything about. One is called Yesterday and the other is called Tomorrow, so Today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live” – Dalai Lama
Riddhima’s Recipe for Green Dhokla
This recipe is my Mom’s recipe for a quick and healthy snack. Perfect to serve guests who come unannounced because it barely takes 15 minutes to make and hardly any preparation time. My brother is a huge fan of these Dhoklas too. He is always hungry when he gets back home from work in the evening and these Dhoklas are his favourite evening snack.
Yields: 1 8-inch dhokla plate (about 15 pieces) | Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook Time: 10 mins | Cooling Time: 5 mins
Ingredients
1 cup semolina (sooji/rava)
1 cup yogurt
2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon eno powder
For the green paste:
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
1 green chilly
For Tempering:
3 teaspoons oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
½ teaspoon white urad dal
Few curry leaves
To Serve:
Coriander chutney
Method:
Grease an 8-inch steel dhokla plate with a little bit of oil and place it in the steamer.
Blend the coriander and green chilly in a blender to make a paste.
In a bowl, mix together the semolina and yogurt.
Add the coriander and chilly paste and mix well.
Add salt to taste and oil and mix well.
Add a little water if needed to get a pouring consistency of the batter.
Once the water in the steamer starts boiling and the plate is hot, add Eno powder to the batter.
Mix the batter lightly and pour it onto the plate.
Steam for 10 minutes.
After it is done, remove the plate and let it cool slightly.
Cut onto pieces of desired size.
For the tempering:
Heat oil in a small tempering vessel.
Add mustard seeds.
Once the mustard seeds start splattering, add the urad dal.
Once the urad dal turns golden, add the curry leaves.
Sprinkle the tempering onto the dhokla pieces and garnish with freshly cut coriander leaves.
Serve them warm with coriander chutney.
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Facebook: Kookies & More | Instagram: @kookiesnmore
