How to make delicious dhokar dalna

dhonkar dalna is a traditional vegetarian dish of Bengalis that’s purely satvik,( even without onion and garlic). The spiced yellow lentil cakes (in Bengali it’s called only dhoka) are fried and then simmered in a thick gravy made with tomatoes and ginger and sometimes added with potatoes finished in a warm, spicy, cumin-laced sauce. This is the Bengali style, How to make delicious dhokar dalna.

Ingredients

FOR THE DHOKA

• 150 g chholar dal (split Bengal gram, overnight soaked)
• A pinch of salt
• ½ spoon sugar
• cooking oil (for frying)
• a pinch of hing (asafetida)
• 3 green chillies
• One cup water
• Two tspoon vegetable oil
• One tspoon ginger paste
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• one tsp turmeric

for gravy

• 3 tspoon mustard oil
• 2pcs cardamom
• 1 pc cinnamon
• 2 pcs cloves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 pcs dried red chillies
• 2 pcs bay leaves
• cumin powder, coriander powder, and turmeric 1 teaspoon each
• One teaspoon ginger paste
• ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
• ¼ tsp hing (asafoetida)
• one tomato (diced)
• 3 pcs green chilies (slit)
• salt
• 1 teaspoon ghee and garam masala

How to make delicious dhokar dalna

For dhoka

• Wash and soak Chana Dal/Bengal Gram overnight.

• In a grinder add dal along with green chilies, salt, ginger and grind to a smooth paste. Add water as required.
• In a pan, heat oil, temper with Cumin seeds and Hing(asafoetida) and add the paste and cook until the mix becomes a tight dough.
• Once it is cooked, transfer to a plate and pat the paste into a cake, before the paste becomes hard or dry. Once it cools down, cut it into one-inch sizes.

Now you can deep fry the lentil cakes/dhoka till golden brown on both sides.

FOR THE CURRY

1. Heat oil and temper it with bay leaves, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and cumin seeds and red chilies.
2. Add ginger paste, cumin powder, turmeric, coriander powder kashmiri red chilli powder and hing(asafetida), and fry the spices until the fried smell starts coming. You can add a splash of water and salt, tomatoes and green chilies and cook for 3-4 minutes then add water.
3. After the water starts boiling slowly drop the dhokas one by one and allow it to cook for 3-4 minutes in medium flame.

4. turn off the gas and add ghee and garam masala and serve hot with rice, paratha or roti.