After a lot of (over) indulgence during the holidays, its time to get back to hearty, homey comfort foods. Daal Dhokli is simply a bowl of warmth and goodness. From the state of Gujarat, Dal Dhokari is made by cooking spiced chapati dough with spiced toor daal. The end product is a delicious one pot meal. If you have some Gujarati Daal leftover, Daal Dhokli is a quick meal. However, for those of you who don’t have any Gujarati Daal on hand, don’t worry. This Dal Dhokri recipe is for you – from scratch!
Prep Time: 30 minutes to cook daal (prep other steps during this time)
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4-5
Ingredients:
For Daal:
Toor Daal – 1/2 cup dry (washed, soaked for 30 mins (optional) and drained)
Whole Raw Peanuts – 2 Tbsp
Fenugreek Seeds (Methi) – 1/8 tsp
Water – 2 cups
For the Dhokli:
Chapati (Whole Wheat) Flour – 1 cup
Chickpea Flour (Besan) – 1 Tbsp
Ajwain (Carom Seeds) – 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Red Chili Powder – 1/2 tsp or to taste
Oil – 1 Tbsp
Warm Water – 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp
For Seasoning:
Oil – 1 Tbsp
Ghee (Clarified Butter) – 1 tsp
Cinnamon Stick – 1 inch piece
Cloves – 4
Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Ajwain (Carom Seeds) – 1/4 tsp
Dry Red Chili – 1
Asafoetida (Hing) – 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
Curry Leaves – 1 sprig
Ginger – 2 tsp (minced)
Green Chilies – to taste (minced)
Frozen Green Peas – 1 cup
Tomato – 1 large, chopped
Water – 5 cups
Salt – 2 tsp or to taste
Jaggery – 2 Tbsp or to taste (sugar or brown sugar may be substituted)
Tamarind Pulp – 1 Tbsp or to taste
Red Chili Powder – 1/2 tsp or to taste
Garam Masala – 1 tsp
Cumin Powder – 1 tsp
Coriander Powder – 2 tsp
Lemon/Lime Juice – to taste
Cilantro (Coriander Leaves) – chopped, for garnishing
Ghee or Oil – drizzle over the top at the time of serving
Method:
1. In a pressure cooker, add drained Toor Daal, Peanuts, Fenugreek Seeds and 2 cups Water. Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles for soaked daal or 5-6 whistles for unsoaked daal. Allow pressure to go down by itself before opening pressure cooker.
2. In a bowl, add Chapati Flour, Chickpea Flour, Ajwain, Turmeric Powder, Salt and Red Chili Powder – mix well.
3. Add 1 Tbsp Oil and mix again to incorporate the oil into the flour.
4. Add Warm Water little at a time to form a stiff dough. Knead for 1-2 minutes.
5. Drizzle a few drop of oil and coat the dough ball. Cover and let dough rest for 15-20 minutes.
6. In a large pot, heat Oil and Ghee. Once hot, add Cinnamon Stick, Cloves, Mustard Seeds (allow them to pop), Ajwain, Dry Red Chili, Asafoetida, Turmeric Powder, Curry Leaves, Ginger and Green Chilies. Mix.
7. Immediately add Green Peas and cook for 1 minute before adding Tomatoes. Mix.
8. Add cooked Daal, 5 cups Water, Salt, Jaggery, Tamarind Pulp, Red Chili Powder, Garam Masala, Cumin Powder and Coriander Powder.
9. Allow mixture to come to a boil.
10. Meanwhile, knead dough once again and divide into 2-3 portions. Lightly grease rolling surface and roll out dough balls into thin discs (thinner than chapati). With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into small diamond shapes (roughly 1 inch pieces).
11. Once Daal comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and add in dough diamonds while stirring. Roll out remaining dough and add diamonds quickly.
12. Cover and cook for approximately 30 minutes, stirring in between. Dhokli should not have a raw taste.
13. Once cooked, switch off stove and add Lime or Lemon juice to taste.
14. At the time of serving, garnish with Cilantro Leaves and drizzle Oil or Ghee over the top.
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
I am glad to find out your website.I tried this recipe of your s using LEFTOVER chapatis and believe me it turned out equally yummy..
Hi Mariya,
Great!
Shhh – don’t tell anyone but I have used pasta a couple of times and it tastes great with that too. I was just too lazy to make chapatis and I never have left-over chapatis 🙁
Hi hetal and anuja..I have tried most of your recipes and it turned super..now I tried this recipe .wow I loved it yummy,..am enjoying it.thank you for this lovely dish…
Hi! I came across your website a few days ago and I am so happy I did! I have a list of recipes I am going to try from here and this is the first one. I have a question about the tamarind I’ve seen it in several other recipes can it be replaced with tamarind concentrate? Please let me know so I can start making these yummy dishes! Keep up the great work!
Hi Nikki,
Welcome to ShowMeTheCurry.com! You can definitely use tamarind concentrate but just be aware that you may have to scale down the amount. Start with a little and taste and adjust as you go until you are comfortable with the intensity of the concentrate.
hi,
It’s an interesting dish to make but the video does not run through till the end of cooking process 😉 Phew !!!
Hi, great job ladies..
Have been following your recipes with success so far. I wanted to know what is that ‘thing’ on which you use to rest your ladle/ spatula on the counter called, It looks like a big spoon itself ? its white in color. where can I buy it? [Didn’t have enough time to sift through your recipes to check in which video its visible, so asking here!]
For example when cooking you mention cup of water, is it possible to say in ml?
wonderfull recipe 🙂
hello ladies,
lovely recipe – one of my favourite dishes.
For those whose dhokLis fall apart, my mom and aunt have an interesting variation – they lightly roast the dough into chapatis: half done and without browning. After this, they cut them into strips with scissors and bunches of those strips into diamonds. The rest of the recipe is practically the same.
And, oh yeah! A serving suggestion – sprinkle finely chopped onions on top and shredded cabbage with salt and chilli powder on the side. The raw onions and cabbage add a crunchy contrast to the doughy texture of the daL dhokLis.
regards,
A grateful foodie.
Hi Harshit,
Thanks for sharing your tips and variations! The shredded cabbage sounds like a great idea.
hi ladies,
I tried this recipe today and it turned out delicious! i have 1 question- how do i serve this dish? with rice or chapati?
Dear Hital and Anuja,
Thanks very much for your wonderful website. I found all the given instructions in your recipes are simple and easy to follow. I made Dal Dhokri today and it’s so yummy…
Thanks again
Hi Hetal, ANuja
Regards..
This recipe is awesome and i tried MATZAH instaead of making dhokli. This is available everywhere in indian as well as American grocery stores…
“Matzah is a crisp, flat, unleavened bread, made of flour and water, which must be baked before the dough has had time to rise. It is the only type of “bread” which Jews may eat during Passover, and it must be made specifically for Passover use, under rabbinical supervision.”
You guys rock.Keep guiding and making delicious recipes.
It would be great if you can add calorie counter in your recipes too.
REgards,
Samta
Hi Samta,
Wow! That’s clever…to use Matzah. Thanks for sharing your idea with us and all the other viewers.
G8888…..luved d reciepe…made me remember my clg mess…i’ll try dis today itself….thanx
Hi,
i have store bought dry tamarind powder.In recipes where u have used concentrated tamarind pulp for that what will be exact measurement that i can take for dry tamarind powder?pls reply.u did not my question so i m asking the same question again.
Parul
Hi Hetal & Anuja,
in Singapore i cann’t find tamarind pulp(ready made)so i have dry tamarind powder (storebought).what will be the quantity that i can take for standard 1tbsp (each of ur recipes u take concetrated pulp).
parul
Hi Parul,
We only get ready made pulp or whole tamarind that we have to soak here. We have not worked with tamarind powder…sorry. You can treat tamarind like you would lime or lemon juice – to taste. Add a little at a time to get it sour enough to your preference.
So yummy,so easy..I have just prepared and enjoying the dish…thank you so much.Cannot stop eating.
That’s awesome Preeti! Enjoy!
This soup has become my daughter’s favorite (as well as mine and my husband’s as well). For those who can’t take much heat, I leave out the red and green chilis and put 1/4 tsp into the soup, not the dhokli – still plenty spicy for most Western palates.
Hi Hetal, Anujua,
I am from Gujarat, and still live there. I have been cooking daal dholki for more than 40 years now but I have never seen a gujarati daal with garam masala, beans and tomatoes! Frankly this will be a daal fry dhokli 🙂
However I liked the innovation ( or renovation) and would surely give it a try sometime.
Thanks for being open-minded about it 🙂
i would like to share little twist to this,out of dhokali dough roll small puri and stuff the mixture of aaloo,which we make for aaloo paratha,place in center and make a modak shape and put that also along with flat dhokali,indian revioli.its just tate amazing. and u can also add one cashew and one raisin in each raviloli.kids just love that surprise inside.,hope u will like it
Hi Jayashree,
What a great idea, thanks for sharing 🙂
Yum Yum Yum — I made this yesterday — It was just yum yum yum. Thanks for sharing.
hey hetal, anuja..
i know that we can make dal-dhokli using leftover dal as well.. can u just give me quick recipe for that in this reply as i m planning to make it today ??
thank alot..
u both rock !!
Hi Hetal,
All you have to do is thin out the daal and add in the vagaar and the dhoklis. All the dhoklis to cook in the daal after that till the are fully cooked.
Enjoy the Daal Dhokli 🙂
for whatever reason when i open the site it’s redirecting me to some other site and there are many popups. not sure if it’s just me. I never had this before just wanted to let u know if there is any virus
This became an instant favorite with my husband and 10 yr old daughter. I used 1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate, and I think I got the sweet/sour/spicy just right (I used 1/4 tsp chili powder, though, and I did add some lemon at the end).
None of your recipes/methods have ever steered me wrong. Thank you!
is it necessary to have a presure cooker? I dont hav one.
Linda
in youtube i saw about recipes and i saw your mom and you were tiiif roll
I would really like to make this dish as it so nice but once you add the channa flour the dough becomes hard when adding to the daal..do you think I should leave out the chaana flour & just stick to atta flour..
I would appreciate if you could help here. Thank you both for the lovely site.
Hi Dolly,
You can leave out the Besan but honestly, the dhokli was not hard at all. Maybe the dhokli was not rolled out thin enough….?
Which brand of garam masala do you guys use?
Can you please tell me why did you put the fenugreek seeds whilst boiling the dal, we normally use the spices while the oil is heating up.What does it do ?
Hi Dilsha,
Couple of reasons. one is so that it’s not so bitter plus it gives a different flavor. In the tadka, it will flavor the oil but in the daal, it will flavor the daal as well 🙂
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
Thank you for your amazing website, not only have you made me a decent Indian cook but now my parents have been converted to loving Indian food!!!
One question what would be the best size pressure cooker to buy to make your daal recipes? The smallest one I can find is 3.5 litres would this be ok?
Hi Claire,
Kudos to you!
Pressure cookers – depends on how many you people you are cooking for on a daily basis. We use a 5 quart one and it works wonderful for 4-6 people. The 3.5 will be good for 2-4. Pressure Cookers should NEVER be filled to the brim and not more than 3/4ths of the way full for safely purposes. Having said that we suggest the 5quart over the 3.5 so you can cook for 2-6 people without worrying!
All your recipes are very nice indeed, I have seen a site that does good recipes & they keep saying add Mithu. what does that mean in Gujarati, they were making Kicchi.Pl help!!! Thank you for the lovely site.
Hi Lotti,
“Mithu” in Gujarati means salt.
hi, do you have a recipe for chicken vindaloo. thanks
Awesome recipe! But just a quick question – whenever I make dough and knead it, it breaks a lot of time. So I always manipulate with and try to get it back to shape but there always lots of cracks in it. Why does this happen? I do let the dough rest. Appreciate your reply 🙂 Thanks.
i have that problem too. does it matter appart from presentation?
Great simple recipe. Our neighbors made with tender gavar sing ( cluster beans) and it also adds to a nice flavor. Our other neighbor made with whole toor and that was delicous as well. I always add sesame seeds in addition to peanuts….I always had challenges cooking the dhokli right and I am glad I got to see yr recipe…. gr8 job. Thhks….
Gosh Anna!
I think we need to your neighborhood – hopefully your neighbors share some of that food with you… 😉
Enjoy 🙂
Very interested to try this recipe, however I need the ingredients to be no wheat flour i.e. gluten free. What would you recommend? Could the Dholki be made just with Besan flour?
Hi Liz,
We have never made or heard of Dhokli being made without Atta Flour – sorry 🙁
Our suggestion would be that you make the daal and try a few different types of gluten-free flours…
Hope something works out.
hi hetal n anuja,
thanx for the receipe. can we use channa dal instead of tuvar dal.
Hi Reena,
Personally, we have never tried that in this recipe but think it can be done. If you do that it will be a totally different recipe – you will have to change the water consistency, the spices and the cooking times accordingly.
Let us know if you do try it…would love to hear your feedback 🙂
Reena,
I don’t know about chana daal, but I make it with moong daal ( with skin) and that way its very light on stmoach too. and I don’t cook the daal beforehand..just do it all together in pressure cooker…that way its really really fast….and truly one pot meal!
What does “2 or 3 whistles” mean? My pressure cooker doesn’t whistle. I am in the U.S. and I have never heard the term “whistles” in relation to cooking. Looks delicious. Was going to make it tonight, but need to resolve this whistle question.
You can use you normal pressrre cooker but you have to add extra water then they told you and when pressure cooker is full of steam. you can slow the heat on medium and cook that another 5 min. just be careful about your dal.. it should not burn. thats why I ask you to add extra water I know amarican pressure cook burn more water then indian cooker.. enjoy your meanl..
please make yr videos shorter and faster.
tks
Hi Mrudz,
Thanks for your feedback! We have tried to do that but then we loose the essence of the dish and have to skip on a lot of small, but important points and we don’t want to do that 🙁
I love you video’s the way they are. I didn’t have a clue about certain points that u have explained so well. My parents did all of the cooking when I lived at home so your videos are excellent for people like myself keep up the good work!
It is very interesting you to watch your show and listen to your explanation. Nice work
Anuja,
Your tops is very pretty.
Hi Priya,
Thanks for the compliments 🙂
Enjoy the Daal Dhokli!
I have not heard of this dish at all. But the ingredients and final product looks so yummy. I am going to give it a try on Monday. Will update my feedback. Btw, Anuja’s costume is super. Will post the feedback soon.
Hi Sandy,
This is a fabulous dish and so hearty and comforting – do give it a shot!
Thanks for the compliment 🙂
Agreed, Daal Dhokli turned out so yummy. I gave it to my Italian friend, She too loved it and she asked for the recipe, I simply gave the SMTC link :).
Thanks for this awesome recipe.
wow,great one!
who is your cameraman? he /she does an excellent job,,do introduce us to your helpers sometime!
Hi Nita,
Yes, the Camera person is very good! We will introduce them someday 😉
Yeah you must do that soon. You should also do a tour of your kitchen.
This is a wonderful dish & thank you for introducing it.
Next please do show how to make kichi.These are all very healthy dishes & to be enjoyed by whole family.
after adding dhokli,give it a just 1 or 2 whistles in a cooker. you wont need to check it once in a while.just add half a cup of water more. and it will be ready in lesser time. i have been doing this for many years.
After giv8ng whistles. We shoul wait for it cool down or 9pen it right away
Boy! long last I got hold of this recipe, I really enjoy Gujarati vegetarian dishes, you make things look really very simple to make & hussle free.
Thank You!
Hey simply grrrrrrrrreat recipe!A great alternative to the regular chhapati & rice and healthy as well !By the way is it on heavy side or light like khichadi!
Hi Anuja and Hetal,
This looks amazing!!! It brings back memories of chicken and dumplings in my youth, but now I have this great vegetarian (and much more flavorful) version. I’m in heaven!!! Thanks so much for your incredible recipes.
This looks delicious! I have to try it out.
You have a great web-site.
How funny, I am planning on making this tomorrow with left over daal.
This is the first time I heard of adding chickpea flour, what is the purpose of adding it? Also, I have never seen peas in Daal dhokli either, but it’s healthy so wouldn’t hurt.
Thanks again for reading my mind. 🙂
Hi Pinal,
The chickpea flour prevents the dhokli from falling apart and becoming mushy as it cooks. The peas are my mom’s special addition :). It makes it a one pot meal with carbs and veggies.
I cant roll chapathis to save my life!:( its always uneven. this looks dee-li-cious though.
HI … ! 🙂 HETAL AND ANUJA
Thanks for your great recieps and im making the daal dhokli right now with some help and it is turn out to be realy great love the way you make cooking so fun and easy….. i have learned to cook by watching your videos soooo thank … could you please help me and give me the reciep for toovar subzi with eggplant…! 🙂
we can also take 1 cup of maida and one cup of wheat along with some besan and make raviollis stuffed with some dry fruits and masala and drop them in the dal
Interesting idea…thanks for sharing.