Dal Dhokli is a simple, traditional Indian delicacy from the state of Gujarat. Dal is Indian lentil soup, and Dhokli is dumplings made out of wheat flour. These are cooked with nice aromatic spices together, and the texture resembles that of pasta. Here, I have given it a twist by making stuffed dhokli using quinoa and have served it with a side of quinoa and brown rice.
Soak dal for 15-20 minutes while you are doing the other preparations.
Wash the soaked dal, add salt, turmeric powder, chopped tomatoes, 2 pieces of kokum, grated ginger, ½ tablespoon of ghee, about 3-4 cups of water the pressure cook for 6-7 whistles. Then turn off the heat.
When it cools down a bit, remove the kokum and keep it aside. Blend the dal in a blender to a smooth puree.
Heat ½ tablespoon of oil, add asafetida, mustard seeds at few seconds interval each. Add the dal. Add the kokum you had kept aside earlier plus 1-2 additional ones, jaggery, peanuts, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, garam masala, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low-medium.
Add all the dhoklis prepared as per the recipe give below. Add lemon juice. Let it cook for about 25 minutes, stirring in between. Add more water if needed. The consistency of the dal in dal dhokli is slightly thicker. But note that the addition of dhokli will also make dal thicker as it cools down. Check if the dhoklis have been cooked properly. If cooked, turn off the heat. Serve Dal dhokli in a serving bowl.
This step is optional. Prepare the tadka by heating half a tablespoon of oil and ghee (or just oil for vegan version). Add asafetida, ½ teaspoon mustard sees, curry leaves, dried red chilies. Once these splutter, turn off the heat and add ¼ teaspoon of red chili powder. Mix and pour the tadka over dal dhokli. Garnish it with coriander leaves and pomegranate seeds.
Serve it with a side of Quinoa and Brown rice.
Steps to make Dhokli:
Take wheat flour or amaranth flour depending upon whether you are preparing the wheat version or the gluten-free version. I prepared both.
Add all the ingredients listed under dhokli, except for water. For wheat version, add gram flour, for amaranth flour version use boiled, grated potato. Mix well.
Knead into a semi-soft dough using only as much water as needed. Keep it aside for 15-20 minutes.
For the wheat version, form into little larger than golf ball sized balls. Dust into flour and roll it thin. Repeat one more time. Dust flour on one of the rolled bread, lay another one on top of it. Gently cut it into squares.
Separate the squares. Fill the squares with little bit of quinoa prepared per the recipe below, by putting it in the middle. Top it with another square. Gently seal the edges first with hand and then using the back side of a fork, kind of like ravioli. Keep it aside. Repeat. I used half the dough to prepare non-stuffed, regular dhoklis.
For the amaranth flour version, it is bit hard to roll and keep it intact. Hence i made tiny balls and rolled each one separately, cut into squares and then followed the above procedure of sealing.
In order to ensure that the stuffed dhoklis get well cooked, heat a pan on medium, add a few drops of oil and put the prepared dhoklis, cooking a little bit on each sides. That way when these are dunked in boiling dal, the cooking process is quicker and easier. Given that the stuffed dhokli will have two layers and would be thicker, this step shouldn't be skipped. You do not need to do this step for the non-stuffed dhokli.
Recipe for Quinoa:
Wash quinoa wellto remove bitterness. Boil it. I used Instant Pot to boil quinoa. You may use IP, pressure cooker, or even a simple pan to do so. Brush a few drops of oil in Instant pot. Add 1 cup washed quinoa and 1 ½ cups of water, ½ teaspoon of salt, ¼ teaspoon of oil.
Close the lid and cook for 10 minutes in 'manual' mode on IP. It will take 10 minutes to boil, and few additional minutes for the IP to heat as well as to release pressure later.
Recipe for Brown rice:
Soak rice for about half an hour. Wash it after soaking.Heat about 4 cups of water, bring it to a boil, add the soaked rice, salt, oil. Let it boil until the rice is cooked. Drain excess water, if any. Rice is ready.
Notes
Dhokli is generally made quite plain with wheat flour and basic spices like salt, chili powder, turmeric powder and water. Here I have added some kasuri methi, yogurt, grated ginger, coriander leaves etc. to jazz it up :) Feel free to skip the add-ons. You can also use fresh chopped fenugreek leaves, instead of dried ones.
I made 2 batches - one regular with wheat flour and one gluten-free with Rajgira flour. Personally, I liked the tase of wheat flour one better as that is what we are used to eating. But if you want a healthier version, go for the gluten-free version.
I also made half the dhokli stuffed as an added twist, and the remaining half non-stuffed/plain. Again, the plain one is my personal favorite, but to jazz up a delicacy, try out the stuffed version.