Dhakai Porota and Cholar Dal: Dhakai Paratha |Cooking|

Indian festivals revolve around food. Festival food is always special whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner.Today’s recipe in the Durga Puja series is Dhakai porota and cholar dal.

During these five days of festivity, elaborate Bengali breakfast is planned whether at home or from the local sweet shops. Hinger Kochuri, Luchi Cholardal are the items which are very famous as Bengali breakfast.

Dhakai Porota is a traditional Bengali food which was quite popular even few years back. The age-old sweet shops used to sell these huge layered porotas with cholar dal in the morning. The growing popularity of western food and easy quick recipes, these traditional recipes are unfortunately disappearing from the Bong food culture.

Dhakai Porota is a famous street food in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Whoever conceived this recipe of paper thin crispy flaky layered porota with melt in the mouth texture is a culinary genius. Porota or paratha is usually shallow fried but in this recipe the rolled paratha is deep fried so that it puffs up to release all the flaky layers. The technique of making the layers is like lachha paratha but the main process is completely different.

Dhakai Porota is traditionally served with cholar dal or alur torkari, the recipes of which I have already shared here.

Since the huge sized porotas are deep fried and there are layers of ghee in between, it is quite rich. It is not a recipe to make every weekend but you should give this recipe a try at least once! Try this recipe and follow the steps carefully and let me know how it turned out.

Subho Moha Sashthi to all who are celebrating!

Tips:

Rest the dough in between so as the gluten developed in handling the dough is relaxed and it is easy to roll the dough. Fry the porota in enough hot oil. Choose a big wok or kadai to fry the porota. Bigger the size of the wok and the amount of oil, bigger the size of the porota. It is very important to drain all the oil from the fried porota.

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HOW TO MAKE DHAKAI POROTA

YIELD: 6 Servings
PREP: 30 mins
COOK: 15 mins
READY IN: 1 hr 15 mins

It is a deep fried porota with crispy flaky layers often paired with cholar dal. A grand Bengali breakfast!

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all purpose flour/ maida for the dough
1 teapsoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons white oil
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup all purpose flour for the flaky layers
2-3 tablespoons ghee
3 cups white oil for deep frying

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large bowl, mix well the flour, salt and sugar. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and mix well with your fingers. The flour should resemble the texture of moist sand. Gradually add the water, couple of tablespoons at a time and knead lightly to a dough. The dough should be smooth and not too soft. Place the dough in a bowl, cover and let it rest for 15 minutes.
2. After resting the dough, divide it into 6 equal portions. Roll each portion between the palms to make a smooth ball.
3. Take a one ball and roll into a thin disc. Apply ghee on it and sprinkle flour to coat evenly. Make a slit from the center of the rolled disc and roll from one side to form a cone. Cut the pointed edge of the rolled cone. Dip the cut end in oil and place on a plate, cut end facing up. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile heat the oil in a big wok or kadai. The oil should be hot to fry the porota.
5. Take one rolled cone and press gently to form a round. With light hands, roll the ball to a 6 inch disc. Place the disc carefully in the hot oil. When the porota floats on top, with a ladle, start pouring hot oil from the kadai in the center of the porota continuously. The porota will puff up and the layers will separate. Fry for 2-3 minutes or until light golden brown. Drain very well and transfer to a plate lined with kitchen towel. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls.
6. Serve hot with cholar dal. Enjoy!