Dal makhani means something which is full of lentils (dal) and butter (makhan). I mean anybody can have an idea about this food when he hears the name of the dish. Am I right? It is super delicious and very popular in the Northern Indian states. But it is a Punjabi dish which was spread gradually all over northern India as well as various other parts of the country. Most people enjoy this food with roti or naan or paratha.
Though the first time, when I heard about this food that time I did not have any idea. It was 2007 when I was in Rohini, Delhi. I just ordered because I wanted to try something new. But I loved it and till now it is one of my favorite vegetarian dishes. Plain tawa roti and this dal makhani is an awesome meal for me. It works for lunch as well as dinner too.
It needs two types of lentils (dal). These are whole black lentils (urad dal) and kidney beans (rajma).
Kidney beans are such type of lentils what you can not cook without any advance planning. I mean, you suddenly can not decide that you will make kidney beans (rajma) and start cooking. This is not possible because you need to soak it in water for hours. But still, you need to pressure cook till 10-12 whistles. Funny thing is that you still may feel that you need to cook those beans a few more minutes, haha.
I was observing this pressure cooking and hearing that this pressure cooker was telling me “Sare pressure main jhelu aur tu bas maja lega?”
HaHa!
It is not just good in taste. But also making this food is enjoyable when you harvest homegrown tomatoes and use to make this dish. Yes, I am saying correct. Don’t I do? What do you say? Homegrown vegetables definitely bring happiness to anybody who is closed to nature as well as foodie too.
Enjoyed a lot when I was harvesting tomatoes from my rooftop garden and come down to add it to dal makhani.
Dal makhani recipe
- ⅔ cup whole urad dal
- ½ cup kidney beans
- 2 medium-size tomato, pureed
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- 1.5 teaspoons ginger (adrak) paste
- 1 teaspoon garlic (lahsun) paste
- 3 green chillies
- Whole spices ( 2 cardamom, 1 inch cinnamon, 3 cloves)
- Pinches of nutmeg (jaiphal powder)
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 2 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1.5 teaspoons turmeric powder
- 1.5 teaspoons red chilli powder
- Salt as needed
- Handful crushed kasuri methi
- 2 teaspoons melted butter
- 1.5 tablespoons refined oil
- Water as needed
- Soak kidney beans & urad dal in warm water for 10 hours
- Then drain water and pressure cook dal with fresh water till 10-12 whistles and keep it aside for further use
- Heat refined oil in kadai and then add whole spices (cardamom, cinnamon & cloves), saute
- Now add finely chopped onion & salt and saute till urtns into light brown
- Now add ginger & garlic paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder & nutmeg (jaiphal) and mix all ingredients
- Add tomato puree and cook till gravy turns into the dark in color and thick
- Now add boiled dal and mix with gravy and pour residual water
- Boil it over low flame for next 10-12 minutes and adjust its thickness
- Add butter and kasuri methi and mix
- Switch off the flame and serve with roti/naan/paratha/rice
Also read: Kadhi chawal, Punjabi style aloo methi, delicious paneer pakoda, mouthwatering aloo gobi dry
You can even enjoy this with plain rice or matar rice too.
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