Dhokar Dalna

Dhokar Dalna is an age-old Bengali vegetarian delicacy where deep-fried Chana dal (Cholar Dal) vadas cooked in a rich, flavourful gravy. This gravy/curry made without onion and garlic, so its a purely vegetarian food. Nevertheless to say that the taste of this dish is out of the world and one full plate of steamed rice can be easily polished off with this only. This chana dal vadas called dhoka in Bengali hence the name of the dish is Dhokar Dalna.

With little effort, you too can cook this traditional Bengali dish. Make it and give your taste buds an experience close to heaven.

I cook my Dhokar Dalna with coconut milk. Because; coconut milk gives the curry a nice body. The taste of chana dal and coconut gel very well together, this is another reason. You can skip the coconut milk part if you don’t like to add. Cook with water if you’re not using coconut milk, but I strongly recommend to cook with coconut milk once, then only you can understand the difference in taste. Here goes the recipe, hope you’ll like it! 🙂

Dhokar Dalna
Dhokar Dalna

Dhokar Dalna

Serves: 5

Ingredients

  • Chana dal/Bengal gram- 250g
  • Potato- 2-3 medium size (wash, peel and cut into cubes)
  • Cumin seeds- 1 tsp + ½ tsp
  • Turmeric powder- ½ tsp
  • Kashmiri mirch powder- 1 tsp
  • Cumin powder- 1 tbsp
  • Coriander powder- ½ tsp
  • Hing/Asafoetida- A pinch
  • Thick coconut milk- 1 1/2 cup (or use 1 1/4 cup of water)
  • Salt
  • Sugar- 1 tsp + 2 tsp
  • Bay leaf- 2
  • Whole dry red chilli- 2
  • Ginger paste- 1 tsp + ¾ tsp
  • Cinnamon- 1” (4 pieces)
  • Green cardamom- 4 (roughly crushed)
  • Green chillies- 2-3 (slitted)
  • Yogurt- 1 tbsp (skip if you’re using coconut milk)
  • Cloves- 4
  • Mustard oil
  • Ghee/Clarified butter- 1tsp

Method

Wash and soak the dal for 4-5 hrs. Drain the water completely. In a mixer grind the dal with little water until a smooth paste forms. This paste should be thick, see the picture below.

Chana dal paste
Chana dal paste

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a deep frying pan (non-stick preferably). Temper with 1 tsp of cumin seeds, add the chana dal paste, salt, hing, 1 tsp sugar, and ¾ tsp ginger paste. Mix well and stir constantly until a soft dough like consistency forms and be somewhat sticky. Cook this on a medium-high flame. Remove from heat. Grease a flat dish with oil. Spread the dal mixture immediately on this dish (A pie dish works perfectly for this), press it with the spatula to make it flat and smooth on top. Now cut into big squares or diamonds while warm.

 cut into big squares or diamonds while warm
Cut into big squares or diamonds while warm

After it cools completely take out the pieces carefully. Your dhoka pieces are ready.

take out the pieces carefully
Take out the pieces carefully after cooling

Heat 1 cup of oil in a deep frying pan and fry the dhoka pieces (not more than 4 at a time) until light golden brown in color. Remove and keep aside.

Fried Dhoka pieces
Fried Dhoka pieces

Now fry the cubed potatoes, let the potatoes turn golden brown, remove them. Keep aside.

Golden brown potatoes
Golden brown potatoes

Preparing the Dalna

If there is any remaining oil (3-4 tbsp is enough for making the curry) in the frying pan after frying the potatoes, then no need to add more oil. Otherwise add and heat oil before tempering. Temper with cumin seeds, dry red chillies, bay leaves, cinnamon, green cardamom and cloves. Next to add 1 tsp of ginger paste, turmeric powder, kashmiri mirch powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt. Mix well and fry for 5-6 seconds. Add yogurt, mix and sauté on medium heat till the masala starts leaving oil. Add 1 ¼ cup of water into this. If you are using coconut milk then add it and skip the water. Mix and give this a quick boil on high flame. Reduce the flame; add potatoes, mix, cover and cook. When the potatoes are done, add 2 tsp of sugar. Mix and cook for 2-3 minutes more.

The final gravy (dalna) before adding dhoka pieces
The final gravy (dalna) before adding dhoka pieces

Add the fried dhoka pieces and ghee. Cook for 4-5 minutes further on low flame. Remove from heat. There should be quite a lot gravy when you remove from heat. The dhoka pieces will absorb the gravy with time and the gravy will be thicker.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

Note:

  • Don’t fry the dhoka pieces for a longer time, otherwise, they will harden and may not soak up the gravy well.
  • My mom used to crush 2-3 fried dhoka pieces into the gravy (before adding the fried dhoka pieces finally) to make it thicker, you can do that if you want a more thicker gravy. I don’t do this. Because coconut milk gives enough thickness what requires for Dalna.
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