Dal Dhokli (Savoury Pita bread immersed in tempered lentil soup)

Dal Dhokli - the name was new to me but the delicacy itself was not. As a kid, my mom would occasionally cook a variant of this dish. Back in the day, we called it Dal Pitta (literal translation is Savory Pita bread immersed in a tempered lentil soup). This dish was never my favorite and so conveniently I made it a point not to learn the recipe. My mantra was that if I don't know how to cook it, I wont have to cook it :) But life often has interesting things in store for us...

As you know, I was married into a Gujju family. The other day we were invited for dinner at Mr. Husband's Gujju friends' place. To my surprise, they served Dal Dhokli for dinner. That is when I discovered that Dal Dhokli/Dal Pitta was an integral part of and typical Gujarati cuisine. Counting backwards, that day it had been some 20 years since I last had Dal Dhokli and to my surprise, I fell in love with it. A nutritious one meal dish, the dhokli's melted in the mouth while the warm lentil stew comforted and wrecked havoc in the taste department . How strange it is that the things you like as a kid are no longer on your most-coveted list as an adult and vice-versa! Such was my case.

Filling and delicious, I decided to give this dish a try. It has the goodness of a tasty protein-rich lentil broth along with the wholesomeness of flavored whole wheat pita bread.

Serves 2. No preparation required.

Ingredients:
1. 1 bay leaf leaves
2. Mustard seeds
3. Green chili, finely sliced
4. Tomato chopped
5. Salt 2 tsp
6. Jaggery 4 tsp
7. Oil
8. Heeng, a pinch
9. Red chili powder
10. 1.5 teaspoon coriander powder
11. Fresh Coriander leaves, chopped
12. Toovar dahl, 1 cup
13. Turmeric powder
14. 3 cups whole wheat
15. 1 cup ajwain or carom seeds
16. 1 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
17. 1 inch cinamon stick
18. 1 tsp methi seeds or fenugreek seeds
19. 1/2 inch ginger, shredded
20. A handful of unsalted peanuts
21. A small ball of tamarind pulp, soaked in warm water

Instructions:
1. In a pressure cooker, add 1 cup toovar dahl, salt, turmeric powder, and 3 cups water. Allow 4 whistles to blow.
2. When the pressure cooker opens, let it cool. Then mash the dahl with an electric blender.
3. In a separate pan, heat ghee for the tempering.
4. When the oil is hot, add bay leaf, Cinnamon stick, mustard and fenugreek seeds and let it crackle.
5. Add a pinch of heeng and then add green chili and ginger. When the green chili fries, add coriander powder, red chili powder.
6. Add this, along with a peanuts, to the dal.
7. Boil the dahl.
8. Add gur  to the dahl. Mix then add tamarind pulp to the dahl.
9. Make a dough of 3 cups whole wheat with 2 tsps oil, salt, .5 tsp red chili powder, .5 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp carom seeds, .5 tsp coriander powder.
10. Make small balls of the dough. Then with a rolling pin, flatten the balls. With a pizza cutter, make slices of the flattened ball. Add to the dahl and let it boil.
11. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

This recipe is based off Hetal's recipe and customized to my pantry and taste :) Thanks, Hetal!


Walking down the memory lane!