Dhokar dalna is one of the oldest recipes, which is of absolute Bengali origin. You will never find anything equivalent to this recipe. It is made of lentils cake and the daal or lentils which is used here, is cholar or chanar or Bengal Gram.
To begin making Bengali Dhokar Dalna Recipe, we will first prepare dhoka i.e the lentil cake. Soak the chana for a few hours then grind it with ginger, chilli and little water into a paste.
Take a tablespoon of oil in a non stick pan add jeera, hing, the ground mixture, salt and sugar.
Stir it till the chana dal mixture dries and comes together.
Take a plate and grease it with some oil, put the mixture on it and pat down to spread evenly.
Let it cool down. You can keep in fridge it will harden fast and you can cut pieces.
Cut in medium sized diamond shapes or any shape.
Grease a baking dish, place the dhokas on it. Sprinkle little oil/brush them with oil and bake in oven at 180 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
The next step is to prepare the gravy. Heat mustard oil in a kadai, add jeera and bay leaf. Add ginger paste and tomatoes.
Next, add jeera powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and sugar. Once the tomatoes turn mushy, add potatoes. Add water, cover and cook the potatoes.
Once the potatoes are done, add the baked dhokas in the gravy. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Sprinkle garam masala powder and a teaspoon of ghee and give it a stir.
Switch of the flame, cover and keep it for sometime for flavors to blend well before serving with steamed rice, or Serve Bengali Dhokar Dalna Recipe with Bengali Luchi Recipe or Methi Lachha Paratha Recipe for lunch.