Dal Dhokli

Someone started a thread on Comfort Food on the www.ryze.com's Sigfood network...
and I answered that thread saying Khichadi would be my best comfort food...

Now that I've been sick for the past few days I've really realized what my Comfort food is...
Food that is slurpy, thick, hot and one that reminds me of home and MOM...

Dal Dhokli seemed to come to my appetite automatically (especially when that's something missing when sick), its else that with all the body ache and fever... cooking it was another thing...

But when I did have it... It felt like heaven...



I remember my Mother and her Grand mother in law (that's my great grand mother, grand mother's mother) used to cook this dish, sit down on the floor, put the utensil that they cooked the Dal Dhokli in on hot coals and eat while it was still piping hot.

I remember we being taught to eat it in a thali with a large spoon kept under the thali on one end to not have the food spilling all over the thali.

Its a strange food for those who aren't used to eating dal and roti in the same dish...
But do try it...
Its like fresh pasta in a pulse based sauce ;)

Here's the recipe:

You need:
1/2 cup toovar dal
1 tomato chopped
10-12 peanuts (optional)
2 green chillies chopped
1 tbs tamarind juice or 2 pieces of kokum (if you have)
1 tbs fresh coriander
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
1 heaped tsp cumin-coriander powder
2 tbs jaggery
Salt to taste
100 gms Guvar or Gaurekai chopped (optional)

for the tempering:
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp menthi seeds/fenugreek seeds
1 dry red chilli/ 2 round dry chillies
10 curry leaves
A pinch of asafetida

For the Dhokli:
1 cup wheat flour
1/4 tsp tumeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp oil
1 tsp salt
and Water for binding


Method:
- Make a medium stiff dough by mixing all the dry ingredients for the Dhokli and bind using water little by little.
- Pressure cook the toovar dal and the peanuts together in a pressure cooker until the dal is soft.
- Mash the dal together (not the peanuts) when cooked and add all the remaining ingredients to it and bring to a boil.
- Make the tempering by heating oil, and add mustard seeds to it. As they begin to splinter add the red chilli, curry leaves and the asafetida. Add it to the dal immediately.
- Boil the dal for 2 more minutes.
- You can add the beans shown in the picture also to the dal so that it turns into a one dish meal. We call it Guvaar! or Gaurekai in Kannada.
- Chop the beans into 1 cm pieces and boil in water with a little salt. Drain and add to the dal when it is boiling.
- Roll out very thin Rotis of the prepared dough.
- Cut it into 2 inch strips and each strip into 3/4 diamond shaped pieces. If you want, you can make pieces directly using your hand.
- Add a piece by piece in the boiling dal. (the flame should be on high and the dal bubbling away)
- Dont add all of them together or else they'll form a lump you'll hate to eat.
- Pieces from about 2.5 rotis will suffice.
- Boil them in the dal on high flame for 2-3 minutes after you've finished dropping all of them in one by one.
- If required add more water in the dal.
- This is one dish you MUST eat piping HOT... a tsp of ghee on top will make it even more delectable.
- If it turns cold, it will start to become a lump. Add water and boil once again and its ready to eat once again

TIP: to turn really nice and thin Rotis (any type of roti) smear them with Rice flour instead of Wheat flour on both sides. See how your roti spins on the platform.