Varan Phal aka Daal Dhokli

I just love one pot meals, especially when you are having a super busy week. Well, last week was exactly the kind of week that begged for a quick, feel good meal. Now Daal is the quintessential quick comfort food for me, so opted to make some Varan Phal also known as Daal Dhokli in Gujarati. Varan is daal in Marathi, so simply put Varan Phal is spiced chapati rolled out, cut up and cooked in yellow lentils. The best part about making the varan phals is that you can buy store made uncooked whole wheat chapatis, chop them up into little diamond shapes and use that as your "phal" for the varan.

This dish is so tasty and filling, that its almost a crime that its so simple to put together! We enjoyed out steaming bowls of varan phal with some green salad on the side, and voila we were in comfort heaven!!

This is my submission to Nupur's A-Z of Indian vegetables 'V' letter event.

Varan Phal aka Daal Dhokli
Ingredients
For the Phal
You can use store bought uncooked whole wheat chapati/rotis or make it at home with the ingredients listed below

1. 1 cup whole wheat flour
2. 1 tsp oil
3. Water as required to prepare the dough
4. 1/4 tsp Salt
5. 1/2 tsp red chili powder

For the Varan/Daal
1. 1 cup toor daal/yellow lentils
2. 1 tsp mustard seeds
3. i tsp cumin seeds
4. 1/2 tsp asafoetidia/hing
5. 2-3 curry leaves
6. 1 tsp turmeric powder
7. 2 tsp red chili powder
8. 2 tsp goda masala. This is available in most Indian grocery stores. If not, just replace this with 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp coriander powder
9. 2 tbsp tamarind pulp. You can use store bought pulp or make it at home by soaking tamarind in water for a few hours.
10. 3 tbsp jaggery, grated or broken into small pieces
11. 1 tbsp olive oil
12. Salt to taste
13. 1/2 cup chopped coriander for garnish

Method
For the Phal

1. Mix in all the dry ingredients and ad water to knead the mixture into a dough.
2. Once the dough is pliable, roll it out into chapatis (or like tortillas)
3. Cut the rolled chapati into diamond shaped bite sized pieces

For the Varan (Daal)
1. Wash & cook toor Dal till tender. Mash it lightly when cooked
2. Heat the oil in a deep pan. Add the mustard seeds.
3. Once the seeds start crackling, add the curry leaves and hing/asafoetidia.
4. To this add the cumin seeds and turmeric powder
5. Mix all the ingredients in the cooked dal. If needed pour some water to thin it out where you have enough to cook the chapati pieces in the daal.
6. Add salt, chili powder, goda masala, tamarind pulp and jaggery and mix well
7. Add the chopped up phal/chapati pieces and let the mixture which you can NOW call varan phal ;) cook for another 5-7 minutes. Stir occasionally to get all the flavors blended together.

Garnish with chopped coriander and serve piping hot.
Enjoy :)