Recipe: Dhokar Dalna

This traditional Bengali vegetarian dish goes well with steamed rice.

Ingredients

Yellow split pea (Matar dal): 40gms

Bengal gram (Chana Dal): 160gms

Refined wheat flour (Maida): 1 tablespoon

Potatoes (Aalu): 2 medium sized

Sugar (Chini): 1 teaspoon

Black pepper (Gol morich guro): 1 teaspoon

Asfoetida (Hing): 1 pinch

Fennel seed (Mouri): ½ teaspoons

Cinnamon powder (Dar chini guro): 1 pinchr

Cardamom powder (Elaichi): 1pinch

Nigella (Kalo jeera): 1 teaspoon full

Cumin Seeds (Jeera): ½ teaspoons

Turmeric powder (Halud guro): 1 ½ teaspoons

Red Chili powder (Sukhno Lankar Guro): 1½ teaspoon

Mustard oil (Sarser tel) for frying

Salt to taste

Instructions

For the Dhoka:

Grind both the pulses together in a powder. Grind it well so that it becomes absolutely powdery.
Alternately you can also soak the pulses for about 2 to 3 hours and then make a paste of the soaked pulses.
Add salt, ½ teaspoons each of turmeric powder, ½ teaspoons of red chili powder, turmeric powder, black pepper, cumin seeds; refinedwheat flour, sugar, asafoetida, cinnamon powder, cardamom powder and 1 teaspoon of nigella to the dough.
If you have dry grinded the pulses then add water and make thick dough. Keep it for 20 to 30 minutes.
Heat ½ teaspoons of oil in an wok. Add the dough and toss for 2 to 3 minutes or till the dough become quite dry.
Spread the tossed dough over a plate with almost an inch depth. Cut it into small diamond shapes. The dhoka is now ready to fry.
Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the dhokas till they get hard and the inside also gets cooked. You can prick them with a knife. If the knife comes out with sticking, then the inside is also cooked.


For the Dalna(curry):

Cut thepotatoes in medium size square pieces.
Heat oil in a wok. Fry the potatoes till they are golden brown.
Add the cumin seeds to it along with turmeric and chili powder.
Pour in water and salt.
Now cook till the gravy thickens and the potatoes are cooked well.
Carefully drop the dhokas and just boil for 2 minutes in low flame. Do not toss else the dhokas will break.