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Dhokar Dalna ~ Bengali Special | How to Make Dhokar Dalna

Dhokar Dalna is one of the pillars of Niramish (Vegetarian) Bengali Cuisine. The lightly spiced lentil cakes or dhoka are fried and then simmered in a gravy made with tomatoes and ginger, spiced with cumin and coriander.
Course Main Dish – Gravies
Cuisine Bengali
By Cook Method Deep Fried, Stovetop
Occasion Festival Meal
By Diet Fasting Food
Dish Type Gravy Side Dishes
Author Srivalli

Ingredients

Grinding the lentil for making the Dhoka or the Lentil Cakes

  • 1 cup Chana Dal / Bengal Gram, makes about 25 small cakes
  • 3 - 4 nos Green Chillies
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1 inch Ginger

For Sautéing the Lentil batter and frying

  • 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
  • A Pinch Asafoetida / Hing
  • A Pinch Sugar
  • 1 tsp Ginger grated
  • Cooking Oil for deep frying

For the Gravy

  • 1 cup Potato
  • 1 tbsp Cooking Oil
  • 2 small Bay Leaf
  • 3/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
  • 2 medium Tomato Puree
  • 1/2 cup Curds / Yogurt
  • 1 tsp Coriander Powder Roasted
  • 1/2 tsp Cumin Powder Roasted
  • 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
  • A Pinch Turmeric Powder
  • 1/4 tsp Garam Masala
  • 1 tsp Ghee
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

To make the Lentil Cakes

  • Wash and soak Chana Dal / Bengal Gram in water overnight.
  • Change water couple of times and drain the water.
  • Take the dal along with green chilies, salt, ginger and grind to a fine paste. Add little water as required for grinding.
  • In a nonstick pan, heat cooking oil, temper with cumin seeds, Hing, sugar and ginger paste. Fry for a couple of seconds.
  • Now, add the ground dal paste to the pan and cook until the mix comes off the sides clean. The dal should be cooked so that is moist and soft but not runny or hard.
  • Once it is cooked, transfer to a greased plate.
  • Apply cooking oil on your hands and immediately pat the paste into a cake, make sure the sides are tucked in. Make a 1 & 1/2 inch width cake. The paste gets dried up fast, so you got to be quick in patting it down. Once it cools down, cut into 2 inch squares or diamonds.
  • Heat a kadai with cooking oil and deep fry the lentil cakes till golden brown on both sides. Gently slide them into oil and don’t flip over for the first few minutes. Fry in batches and drain them on a kitchen towel.

For making the Gravy

  • Peel and chop the potatoes into small pieces. Deep fry in the same kadai that you used for frying the lentil cakes.
  • Sprinkle a bit of salt after draining from oil. Keep it aside.
  • Heat cooking oil in a kadhai or any other thick bottomed pan.
  • Temper the cooking oil with Bay leaf, Cumin Seeds and a pinch of Hing.
  • Add tomato puree and saute till tomato is well cooked and there is no raw smell.
  • In a cup, mix the curds with Coriander Powder, Cumin Powder, Red Chili Powder and Turmeric Powder to make a fine paste.
  • Add the curd paste to the kadhai and fry the masala at low heat.
  • Add the fried potatoes and about 1 & 1/2 cups of water. Add salt to taste and cover and cook till potatoes are done.
  • Adjust for any seasoning, add a pinch of sugar. Next, add Garam Masala and Ghee and gently mix.
  • Now, gently slide in the pieces of dhoka or the fried lentil cakes. Simmer for a couple of minutes to let the dhoka soak up the gravy.
  • Serve with Steamed Rice.

Notes

For the Lentil Cakes:
Using a non stick pan will work best for sautéing the dal paste.
Frying the dal paste is quite tricky. Quickly keep stirring to avoid the dal getting struck to the sides. It only takes about 5 mins or so for the dal to get cooked. If you are not sure, keep the flame in low and cook.
The recipe calls for the tomato to be added as chopped, I made a puree. I felt this works out much faster in terms of getting.
If your dhokas are cracked, do not add them to the gravy, rather place them on the serving dish and pour the gravy on them.
For preventing the dhokas to crack, you will have to cook the dal paste quickly and pat it down with greased hands.
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