Dal Makhani, a popular Indian dal recipe is also known as maa ki dal, as I discovered recently. This is my least favourite dal dish to order in a restaurant and I am yet to eat a good dal makhani in any restaurant except maybe Sahib Sindh Sultan who does do a pretty good dal makhani that even I can agree to order sometimes. Note: Check out another version of dal makhani recipe here.Ironically, my mom doesn’t cook this so this isn’t really maa ki dal to me. We are South Indians for whom dal doesn’t form part of a typical meal and though amma cooks an occasional rajma masala or paneer tikka masala, dal makhani is too foreign to us and never really occurred to her to try and cook, I guess.
Her daughter, obviously, loves to take on more than she can chew sometimes (literally!) and takes pleasure in experimenting on never-before-cooked recipes especially when she has guests. I most often mess up on my most tried and tested recipes when I have guests (is it the pressure or is it the expected behaviour, I can never tell).
Anyway, dal makhani has been on the back of my head forever and I recently got a bag of whole black lentils (whole black urad dal) and I decided to try it on an evening we had a young North Indian couple. Brave, aren’t I? 😉
This is a milder version of the dish as I was serving it with spiced up vegetable pulao. I also avoided the cream that is usually an essential ingredient for this recipe.
Dal Makhani Recipe
(Serves 4)Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole ural dal (black lentils), soaked overnight
4 tbsp rajma (red kidney beans), soaked overnight with the dal
1 onion, chopped fine
1 tomato, chopped fine
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp red chilly powder
2 dried red chillies
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
SaltHow to make Dal Makhani:
1. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and saute onions till transparent. Add salt, chilly powder and the ginger-garlic pasted and fry for a minute.
2. Next, add the chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes so that the mixture combines well together. Add the lentils and beans, and enough water to just cover them. Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Remove from fire and set aside.
3. Once the pressure leaves the cooker, keep it on a low fire. Add the milk and bring to boil. Keep it on sim and let it boil while preparing to temper it.
4. Heat the butter and oil in a pan and throw in the cumin seeds. Once they start spluttering, add the chopped garlic and the red chillies each torn into 3 pieces. Fry until the garlic starts browning and smelling lovely.
5. Remove the dal from fire and add the tempered butter-oil directly to it. Follow immediately with garam masala and mix well. Adjust salt.
Serve with warm rotis, naan or an easy veg pulao.
Thanks a ton Anon 🙂 I am working on a version 2 where the colour is more deeper and brown like we see usually for dal makhani. This time, I don't know why I didn't get that colour that I usually get for dal makhani.
A beautiful dish, Nags – a tempting sight for empty bellies. Would love to sample this great home recipe!
Thanks for joining in MLLA8! Round-up coming in next few days.
hi Nags, I love Dal Makhni, though I have never added milk:D in my version. I usually add abt 2 tbsp of thick yogurt/ cream to the recipe. My daughter loves Dal makhni, and that is the reason I started making it at home. It features on the menu once a week, and she loves it with rice as well as puris. And, I can soooo relate to messing up on my best recipes the very day I have guests!:-(
Dal Makhani is in my mind too…I haven’t tried it so far..
You Dal makhani looks creamy and delicious..Nice pic 🙂
Now I badly wanted to try it..
This is my go to dal for indulgence. It just seems so much more sophisticated than the other dals. I don’t make it regularly but keep it for special occasions. Yummy!
Yet to try this dal..looks rich n very creamy…
I have never liked it much too..dont like that too much buttery taste..but yeah I made it once here,with Moong dal n tasted good..Thick cream gives some more cream flavor to the dish..:)
I too had never tasted Maa ki daal as a child .. the same thing..too North Indian.. but I love it, I have a shortcut version on my blog too!
i love dal makhni may be because i am from Punjab and this is the specialty there that you can easily find in any restaurants..yours is totally different recipe than mine..i boil the dal and then mix that into the tadka..
I agree with u when u say that under pressure we just mess up things more….I always tend to do so,in my anxiety to make more and more variety and quantity,i end up feeling frustrated,tired and messy.And most of the time if i tell people before cooking that i am gonna try a particular new dish,i feel assured that i am heading to yet another culinary disaster…..lol..
Well my family loves this dal makhani,though the recipe i follow is way too different from urs,and i dont add any butter or cream.Its just that if you follow slow cooking method(just let it simmer for about 30 minutes )it will turn out to be creamy sans any Fat