Dhokar Dalna is one of the oldest Bengali recipe. It is a yummy treat for those who miss their Bengali roots. In Bengalis, Dhoka literally means the fried chana dal cake / paatice which is then dipped in a thick delicious tomato-onion paste, and so the name Dhokar Dalna.
|| Ingredients ||
- Chana Dal: 200 gm
- Onion : 1 large
- Chilli Powder : 1/2 tbsp
- Salt : 1/2 tbsp
- Oil: 2 cups
- Onion : 2 small paste
- Turmeric ; 1 tbsp
- Chilli (Green paste) : 1/4 tsp
- Sugar : 1/2 tbsp
- Tomato : 2 chopped
- Ghee : 1 tbsp
- Garam masala (the mixture of cardamom - black and green, cloves and cinnamon) : 1 tbsp
|| Method of Cooking ||
- Soak the dal in water overnight. Sieve out the water. Grind dal to a fine paste, preferably in a mixie.
- Add the spices and chilly paste with the dal.
- Heat oil in a deep-bottomed pan. Add dal paste and deep fry.
- Pour the mixture over a saucer smeared with oil or ghee. Iron the surface evenly. Let it cool off. Cut the cake in diamond shapes.
- Heat the oil in a deep bottomed pan and fry the diamonds well. Free them from excess oil.
- Add the paste of spices comprising ginger, onion, turmeric and chilli. Add salt, sugar and tomato. Stir the whole mixture thoroughly.Add some water to make it a thick curry.
- Add fried diamonds to it and cook for a few minutes.
- Sprinkle drops of ghee and pasted garam masala over the top.
- Serve it hot.
