Dhoka'r Dalna

A Bengali vegetarian classic of fried lentil cakes, finished in a warm, spicy, ginger-and-cumin laced sauce.

  • Cooking time
    90 minutes
  • Calories
    kcal
Recommended by
97.4
%
of
26362
viewers who rated this recipe on Youtube

Dhoka'r dalna is a typical Bengali niramish (without onion and garlic) delicacy. The word 'dhoka' means 'betrayal', so this dish is common on days when families eat a vegetarian fare, and trick themselves into believing the lentil cake, made flavourful with spices, coconut, peanuts, etc., is actually meat! 🤷🏽 It is a rather typical Bengali treat, cooked for guests and special occasions.

The soaked Bengal gram is ground coarsely with spices, dry roasted into a paste, then cut into diamonds and fried. This is the dhoka. It can also be had on its own as a snack with tea. Or, it can be added to dalna (a type of rich gingery sauce).

Books in this recipe

No items found.
Like the work we do? Help keep this site ad-free by making a donation.
Donate

Ingredients

Serves
16 pieces of dhoka

FOR THE DHOKA

  • 200 g chhola'r dal (split Bengal gram; soaked overnight)
  • 6 g salt
  • 12 g sugar
  • 10 g green chillies
  • 120 ml water (for grinding dal)
  • 20 g vegetable oil
  • 20 g grated coconut
  • 20 g ginger paste
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • ¼ tsp hing (asafoetida)
  • 20 g roasted peanuts (chopped)
  • 1 tbsp maida (plain flour)
  • Vegetable oil (for frying)

FOR THE CURRY

  • 80 g mustard oil
  • 5 pcs dried red chillies
  • 5 pcs bay leaves
  • 5 pcs cardamom
  • 1 pc cinnamon
  • 5 pcs cloves
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 300 g potatoes (3-cm cubes)
  • 60 g grated coconut
  • 50 g ginger paste
  • 8 g cumin powder
  • 5 g coriander powder
  • 5 g turmeric
  • 3 g kashmiri red chilli powder
  • ¼ tsp hing (asafoetida)
  • 50 g tomato (diced)
  • 6 pcs green chillies (slit)
  • 12 g salt
  • 30 g sugar
  • 400 ml hot water
  • 15 g ghee
  • ½ tsp Bengali garam masala

Method

FOR THE DHOKA

  1. Soak chhola'r dal in water overnight. Strain and grind the dal, coarsely but uniformly, in small batches with salt, sugar, green chillies and water.
  2. Heat 20 g vegetable oil in a pan. Add grated coconut and fry it for 30 seconds on low heat. Then add ginger paste, and fry that too for 20 seconds. Add cumin powder, turmeric and hing, and fry again until the raw smell of the spices goes away.
  3. Add ground chhola'r dal and chopped peanuts. Continue cooking the dal, whilst scraping the bottom of the pan continuously to prevent sticking.
  4. Once the mixture changes colour and gathers in a dough-like ball, transfer it to a flat, greased surface.
  5. Shape into a diamond about 2-cm tall. While the dal is still hot, cut this large diamond into 16 equal diamond-shaped dhokas.
  6. Fry on medium heat in 180°C oil until evenly brown.
  7. Remove from the heat and set aside, while you prepare the curry.

FOR THE CURRY

  1. Heat mustard oil until smoking lightly and pale yellow. Temper it with dried red chillies, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and cumin seeds.
  2. Add the potato cubes and fry them on medium heat until golden (about 4 minutes).
  3. Add grated coconut and fry it for 30 seconds until lightly coloured.
  4. Add ginger paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric, kashmiri red chilli powder and hing, and fry the spices until their raw smell goes away. You may need to add a splash of water whenever the pan dries out. Also add the salt and sugar, and after cooking these for a minute, tomatoes and slit green chilies.
  5. Add 400 mlhot water to form the curry. Once it comes to a boil, lower the dhoka one by one. Allow everything to bubble on medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes for the gravy to thicken. Don't reduce the curry too much, as it will thicken as the dhokas absorb some of the liquid.
  6. Finish with ghee, gorom moshla and two more slit green chillies for flavour.

Recipe discussion

Did this recipe help you cook something that made you happy?

At Bong Eats, we are working to standardise Bengali recipes, and present them to the world in a way that anyone, anywhere will be able to cook Bengali food with confidence—even if they have never tasted it before. We want the world to know that there is Indian food beyond tikka masala.

A lot of time and money goes into creating precise recipes such as this one. We don't want to depend on advertisements that track our viewers' activities through third-party cookies; we do not want take sponsorship money from companies that don't make subpar products.

You can help us make this a sustainable venture that can employ talented local writers, editors, photographers, recipe-testers, and more. Donate to keep us going.

Make a One-time donation

Help us keep Bong Eats free and open for everyone by making a one-time contribution. You can donate as much as you want. No amount is too little.

Donate
Become a member ⭐️

Join to get access to a vibrant private community of people who full of people who love to cook, feed and eat. Get answers to your questions about recipes, techniques, where to find ingredients from fellow members. If you love cooking, this is the place for you.

Monthly LIVE cookalongs
Shiny new private forum
Adda after every video release
Personalised recommendations
✨ See Membership Perks ✨
OR
Art by Ritwika
A fun, private community for enthusiasts of Bengali food

We're building a community

With Bong Eats adda we are trying to create a quiet corner on the internet for people who love nothing more than cooking and feeding people. The focus is naturally on Bengali and South Asian food, but as anyone who has spent time with food and its history knows, everything in food is interconnected. Nowhere is this more true than in Bengal, the melting point of so many cultures of the world—home to the first "global cuisine", as food historian Pritha Sen puts it. If that sounds like just the place you have been looking for, come help us build this space together. We are just getting started.

Join now
Join our 2000+ strong community

🧣 Winter 🫛

Bakes & Roasts

Posted on
December 21, 2023
by
Bong Eats

Winter is here. It is time to get baking. Here are some ideas, both savoury and sweet.

Read More »

✨ What's new?

View all »

Bota-soho Begun Bhaja

Fried brinjal with stalk on

  • 20 mins
  • 104
    kcal
Viewers liked this
%

Peyajkoli Bhaja

A stir-fry with onion-blossom stalk

  • 40 mins
  • 160
    kcal
Viewers liked this
%

Bhetki Machher Jhol

With winter vegetables

  • 45 mins
  • 208
    kcal
Viewers liked this
%

Kacha Tetuler Tok

A light, green-tamarind chutney

  • 30 mins
  • 103
    kcal
Viewers liked this
%
See all New recipes »
More
polao
recipes
View all »

Chirer Polao

A delicious snack made with beaten rice and winter vegetables, chirer polao is perfect for breakfast, tiffin, or evening tea.

  • 45 minutes
  • kcal

Dhoka'r Dalna

A Bengali vegetarian classic of fried lentil cakes, finished in a warm, spicy, ginger-and-cumin laced sauce.

  • 90 minutes
  • kcal
More
special
recipes
View all »

Chhana'r Koftakari

Light, fluffy, mildly-spiced chhana (cottage cheese) dumplings in curry.

  • 90 minutes
  • 465
    kcal

Kakrar Jhal

Bengali crab curry with a twist

  • 90 minutes
  • 272
    kcal

Potoler Dorma with Dal Filling

Potol, stuffed with a dry filling made with chholar dal, coconut, peanuts and raisins, then cooked in a gravy.

  • 2 hours
  • kcal