Hot dish suggestion — learner’s left to seek approval (5,6)
I believe the answer is:
curry favour
'seek approval' is the definition.
(to curry favour with someone is to seek approval)
'hot dish suggestion learner's left' is the wordplay.
'hot dish' becomes 'curry' (I've seen this before).
'suggestion' becomes 'flavour'.
'learner' becomes 'l'.
'left' suggests deleting specific letters.
'flavour' with 'l' taken away is 'favour'.
'curry'+'favour'='CURRY FAVOUR'
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for curry favour that I've seen before include "Seek to ingratiate oneself" , "Bow and scrape" , "Suck up" , "toady" .)