Dal Dhokli

It’s been so hot these days, but who am I complaining to. I love summer for all the reasons – sun, fresh fruits and vegetables, bbq. Sometimes, you just don’t want to go into the kitchen. But, there are days where if you have prepared half of the recipe in advance, you have less hassle and can enjoy things you love to eat. 

One of those dishes I love is Dal Dhokli. It’s an Indian dish cooked in Gujarati households. It is a comfort dish. I love to make it every season when it gets cold, but you can make it anytime of the year. As soon as the weather gets cooler, I love making all the dishes that taste very warming and Indian food always comes first on the list. 

My most comforting meal that I grew up eating almost every Sunday is Dal Dhokli. It’s quite essentially a one pot meal, think of lasagna pasta soup, in this case the stew is a base of Gujarati dal that has all the flavors you will experience at the same time sweet, spicy, sour from the addition of jaggery, green chilies, lemon. The Dhokli is made from dough that has some masalas added to it. There is flavor in the pasta too. We roll the pasta by hand often cutting it into diamond shape. I used my pasta machine. Because, why not? If you are wondering if we ever buy the dhokli ready-made nopes, its always freshly made at home. I do not miss on the toppings like ghee, lemon and few sprigs of cilantro. Its important part of the dish. 

The dish has pasta made from ingredients like turmeric and red chili powder. It does give itself some flavor which is absolutely good. It really tastes great specially if you like dal and pasta. Dal is already a comforting food, add carbs in it like pasta and it becomes ultimate comfort meal.

If you have all the preparation done in advance, like dough is prepared early. Dal is boiled and ready. It takes just 20 minutes to bring this to simmer and lunch or dinner is ready. That’s what I love to do. Make dough and leave it in the fridge. Every time, I am boiling dal, I will often boil more and freeze it for later use, specially for dal dhokli. Just defrost it. That way I can make this dish on weekdays too without extra hassle. 

Print Recipe

Dal Dhokli

Creamy Gujarati style dal, homemade masala pasta simmered with sweet, spicy and sour flavors and crunchy peanuts, topped with ghee, lemon and cilantro.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Course: Brunch, dinner, Lunch

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Dal, daldhokli, Lentils, onepotmeal, Pasta,, vegetarian

Author: Devangi Raval

Ingredients

Dhokli/Pasta Dough

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 teaspoons coriander/cumin powder
• 1 tablespoons of sesame seeds
• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/4 cup water or few tbsp more

Dal/Lentil base

• 1 cup dry yellow pigeon peas /Tuver/Toor dal boiled until soft
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• Pinch asafetida optional
• 3 cloves garlic paste/grated
• 1 tsp ginger paste/grated
• 1 green chili, finely chopped
• 1 Tomato, chopped in small pieces
• 2 tbsp peanuts
• 3 dates pitted
• salt to taste
• ½ tsp Red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 to 1 ½ tsp Jaggery
• Coriander and lemon to garnish
• ghee topping

Instructions

Dal

• Wash Toor dal couple of times until water is clear. Soak it for about 30 minutes or less. Boil it until its cooked and completely soft. I use pressure cooker with 3-4 whistles. If you cook it in a pot add enough water for it to bot burn or stick to the bottom. For 1 cup of dal, add about 1 1/2- 2 cups of water. If you use instant pot, then 30 minutes NPR is good enough.
• Mash the dal using the back of the spoon, or you can use an immersion blender. It should be completely mushed and smooth. Leave it aside.

Make Dough

• Take flour, dry ingredients and mix it well using kitchen aid mixer with dough hook. Add oil and water gradually; make dough. The dough should not be too soft or too stiff. Start with only 1/4 cup of water, and then see if it needs more.
• Divide the dough into equal portions. Roll it out with a rolling pin in round flat shape, about 1/2 inch in thickness. You can also use pasta maker. Cut them into diamond or square shape. Do not worry too much about the shape but at the same time try to keep it pretty similar so when it cooks; everything cooks at the same consistency. Use dry flour as needed to keep dough from sticking.

Final cooking

• Take oil in a pot on medium heat, once it heats up add mustard seeds and asafetida. Once the mustard seeds splutter add ginger, garlic and chili paste. Saute it for a couple of minutes. Add in the tomatoes, peanuts and spices. Lower the flame if you need to so that spices do not burn.
• Add the dal blend with a 1/2 cup of water, let it simmer for sometime and add the dhokli/pasta in it and let it boil. You can always add more water as needed, it will reduce as you cook the dal. Add the jaggery and roughly chopped dates. Let it cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the pasta is soft and cooked. In this case, pasta is not really al dente, but slightly more cooked. Add more water if needed in the dal mixture because dal can get thick easily as you simmer it.
• Once it is cooked, remove it and serve it with side of ghee, lemon and cilantro. Let people add whatever they wish and enjoy.

Notes

It taste best the day it is cooked but leftovers also make a decent meal. 

If dal thickens up you can always add some water. 

Hope you make it and enjoy this classic comfort meal.

XOXO, Devangi