Soak the dal for 4-5 hours. Drain the dal and discard the soaking water.

In an Indian style mixer-grinder or wet grinder, grind the dal to a fairly fine paste. Add very little (maybe couple of tablespoons) water while grinding.

Take care not to add too much water while grinding. We do not want runny batter. The batter will be of the medu-vada or dahi-vada consistency.

Add a pinch of hing and salt to taste to the batter.

Before preparing the batter, prepare the broth for the dapka.

Wash the methi greens and chop them fine.

In a kadai, add 2 teaspoons of oil, once the oil heats add hing.

Immediately add a teaspoon minced green chillies, once they become fragrant add methi leaves. Sauté them for a couple of minutes.

Add the haldi powder. Take care not to burn the haldi. Now add 2.5 to 3 cups of water.

Continue to cook the methi till done. Add dhana-jeeru powder and salt to the broth.

If you wish, add a pinch of baking soda to persevere the green color of the methi leaves.

When the methi broth is cooking, come back to the batter. Beat the batter well. The batter should feel light and look aerated (drop a drop of batter in a glass filled with water. The batter should float up). Beating the batter by hands takes few minutes.

Once the methi has cooked and broth comes to a boil, begin to drop marble sized chora dapka into the boiling methi broth.

Take care to drop the dapka in scattered manner.

You will notice that the broth will begin to turn milky as the dapka drop and cook.

After you have finished the batter, continue to cook until all the dapka rise to the top (indication that they have cooked well from inside).

Simmer for few minutes and remove from fire.

Add a dash of lemon juice when you serve Chola-Methi na Dapka with warm phulka roti.