Daal Dhokli

Another gujarati favorite and my favorite too:) Daal dhokli, authentic gujarati comfort food! It is another family favorite, that we(my family) all love!

Ingredients:
1 cup toor daal(yellow lentils)
3 cups water
2-3 tablespoons jaggery
1 tablespoon ghee(clarified butter)
4-5 kokum pieces
10 - 15 raw peanuts
5-6 kadi patta
6 small cinnamon pieces
6 cloves
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon garlic
2 green chillies finely ground
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon methi(fenugreek) seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste
cilantro for garnish

For the Dhokli:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste
2-3 tablespoon finely chopped fresh fenugreek(methi)
water to bind
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil


Method:

First combine all the dhokli ingredients minus the water, and mix it with your hand. Use water few drops at a time to bind the flour into a dough like consistency. It should not be sticky but yet NOT hard.

Wash the daal and then pressure cook it with the water, kokum and peanuts for about 7 whistles. Once the pressure cooker opens, use a hand blender to blend the daal into a paste. The kokum might break in the process as well but that is OK. It just adds to the flavors ;) I usually add the jaggery while pressure cooking it. You can jolly well eliminate it!!:)

In a saucepan, on medium heat, put the ghee till it melts. Then add the asafoetida, mustard seeds, methi seeds, kadi patta, cinnamon and cloves and let it crackle. Once that is done, add the ginger, garlic and chilli paste and saute it. Add in the turmeric and salt, and saute it for a minute. Add in the daal and mix it well. Add the garam masala, and keep heating it until it gets a nice consistency, where in it is NOT watery, NOR is it too thick.

Once the daal is heating, start making balls from the dough about an inch in size. Roll out each ball into a flat round chapati, and cut first horizontally twice, to make 3 strips. And then vertically twice to make 9 pieces in all. You should be able to make about 3 chapatis, 27 pieces in all.

Once the daal is boiling, add in the pieces slowly one by one, and let the daal boil for about 10 minutes to make sure all the dhoklis are cooked.

To serve, put some daal dhokli in a soup bowl, and add about 1/2 teaspoon ghee and cilantro for garnish! INDULGE in the COMFORT ... foodd!!