Toor dal simmered with turmeric and finished with a double tadka of mustard, cinnamon, curry leaves and dried chilli, the spices crackling in hot ghee right before serving. A Gujarati comfort dish, often eaten with hand-rolled wheat squares cooked through the dal. Sweet, sour and warming all at once.

Dal dhokli is the Gujarati one-pot comfort meal that sits across the household repertoire from Ahmedabad to Surat. The dhokli (small squares of seasoned wheat dough) cook directly in the dal, absorbing the spice and the slight sweet-sour character that defines Gujarati cooking. The sweetness comes from jaggery; the sour from kokum or tamarind; the warmth from the toasted whole spices in the tadka.

The double tadka is the structural ingredient. The first goes in early (mustard seeds, cinnamon, cloves, dried red chilli bloomed in ghee) and forms the foundational aromatic base; the second goes on at the very end (more mustard seeds, curry leaves, fenugreek, asafoetida) and adds the fresh-hit-of-spice that defines the dish as it lands on the table. Both tadkas use ghee rather than oil.

Gujarati cuisine's distinctive sweet-sour-spicy triangle (the three corners of the regional flavour palette) comes through most clearly in this dish. Jaggery dissolved into the dal adds the sweet; tamarind paste or kokum the sour; the chillies and the warm whole spices the heat. Adjust each in small amounts until the balance reads right. Serve in deep bowls with a spoonful of plain yoghurt and a wedge of lime.