Bengalis are mostly nonvegetarians. They can not imagine a meal without fish or meat. If there is no meat or fish then they will definitely include eggs in their meal. But still, there are some families who prefer to survive atleast a day in a week without any nonvegetarian food. So that day should be special and they want to make one mouthwatering & very special traditional Bengali dish like dhokar dalna. It is fried lentil cake curry with a lot of spices & ghee. So this dish is full of protein & very aromatic too. It is a purely vegetarian dish but it can beat any nonvegetarian item in taste.
Before I talk anything about this Bengali traditional dhokar dalna, you should know dhoka means cheating in Bengali. Though here those fried lentils cakes are called as dhoka. But I do not know why this is called as dhoka. It may be because nobody will understand as it is a fried lentil cake or just vegan food. Dalna is a traditional Bengali style curry which can be thin as well as thick. That is why it is called as ‘dhokar dalna’ or ‘dhoka ka dalna’.
Also read:
5 very delicious traditional Bengali village food recipes
I use to have this dhokar dalna since my childhood. This dish is very special to me. I have travelled across many cities in India but I never tasted such an awesome vegan dish anywhere. It is unique, tasty and very easy to make.
I love to have this food with plain rice as well as roti too. You can even try this with peas rice or paratha/poori too. Though it is the main course Bengali niramish recipe. But I often enjoyed my breakfast with leftover dhokar dalna. It became more delicious when I have this nextday in the morning with poori/loochi. Did you ever try this niramish Bengali traditional food? If not then you should try this at home because you will hardly find any restaurant where this awesome food is served. If you are living outside West Bengal then probably you will never see such a restaurant.
Bengali dhokar dalna recipe
- 1.5 cup Bengal gram/chana dal
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger/adrak
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder/lal mirch
- 1.5 teaspoons turmeric powder/Haldi
- Salt as needed
- Water for soaking lentils/dal
- 1 tablespoon oil for frying
- 1 medium size potato, cut into small pieces
- 2 medium size tomatoes, pureed
- 2 teaspoons ginger paste
- 1 bay leaves
- 1.5 teaspoon garam masala
- Pinches of asafoetida/hing
- 1.5 teaspoon kashmiri red chilli
- 1.5 teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder/jeera
- 1.5 teaspoons coriander powder/dhania
- 2 green chillies/hara mirch
- Salt as needed
- 1.5 cup water
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- Soak Bengal gram in water for overnight or atleast 3 hours then drain water
- Now grind Bengal gram and make paste
- Add grated ginger, garam masala, red chili powder, turmeric powder & salt to Bengal gram dal paste and mix all
- Heat oil in a cooking pan and add that spicy dal mixture and saute till it becomes dry
- Now take the cooked dal mixture in a flat plate and spread it over that keeping ⅓ inch thickness
- Then cut it into 'barfi shape' then shallow fry those one by one and keep it in a separate bowl for further use
- Heat ghee in a wide cooking pot and fry potatoes and take in a bowl
- Now add ginger paste & bay leaves and saute, then add tomato puree & salt and fry till it releases oil
- Add all spices one by one (garam masala, asafoetida/hing, kashmiri red chili powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and whole green chilies) and combine all, cook for another 1 or 2 minutes
- Now pour water to that masala/spices mixture and wait till it start boiling
- Then add potoato pieces and cook till potatoes are cooked
- Now add fried dhoka to it and switch off flame and spread finely chopped fresh coriander leaves & one teaspoon ghee over it and serve
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