Dal Makhani- A whole black gram dal/lentil cooked with a tomato tempering and garnished with cream.
A very rich and creamy lentil curry. A true Indian Delicacy. Learn how to make restaurant style Dal Makhai in your own kitchen under 30 Minutes.
Without any doubt or questions ,this dish will get a unanimous nod for being the most ordered,most loved and most wanted vegetarian recipes of any restaurant or cooked at home. Be it festival dinners,lunches or any formal party /get together,Dal Makhani is for granted on the Menu. One may aptly call it a vegetarians Delight. Its definitely a dish with most repeat servings.
Our planned servings are always double in quantity for this lovely creamy and delectable lentil curry, and still occasionally we have fall short of the demand.I used to make it the traditional way before. Overnight soaking, then cooking the tempering and then letting the dal simmered and cooked for at least two hours to get the rich flavors.
But recently when we began to make it more frequently and i had to find a way to reduce my kitchen and cook time. In today’s time, we all need recipes which need less cooking time but give us similar or exact flavors of our traditional methods.So i can proudly say i have found one.Make this dal my way and i promise you wouldn’t want to cook it any other way.Follow this recipe to the T and you’ll surely achieve the same results that i did.
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Dal Makhani/ Makhani Dal -30 minutes meal
Ingredients
- 1 cup urad dal black (whole) soaked for 1 hour
- 2 cups water dal of for cooking
- 4 Tomatoes
- 4 - 5 cloves garlic
- 2 ' tbsps ginger / ginger /1 grated
- 1 - 2 cardamom black
- 1 cinnamon ' stick
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- to taste salt
- 1 tsp Mirch chillipowder Degi /Degi red
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 2 tbsps cream
- 1 tsp methi kasoori
- 2 tbsps mustard oil
- 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 3 tbsps butter yellow
- 2 tbsps cream
- coriander leaves
- 1 tbsp butter / ghee clarified
- 1 green chilli slit (optional)
Instructions
- Preparing the tomato base for first tempering: In a pressure cooker,add 4 tomatoes slit into 4 pieces,garlic cloves ,ginger or grated ginger and water around 1/2 cup to avoid burning.Pressure cook this till 1 whistle on high flame.Then simmer the flame and cook for another whistle or for about 10 minutes.Let the steam release.Cool this mix and grind to a puree.Sieve the puree and keep aside.
- How to cook the Dal: While you are cooking the tomato puree for tempering,take another cooker and add the dal ,whole spices ,salt and turmeric powder and pressure cook the dal till 1 whistle on high flame .Then switch the flame to low and then cook for another 20 minutes or till nicely done. After 20 minutes if the dal is still under- cooked then cook it again in the pressure cooker (add water if needed) for another few minutes. It should be really soft and creamy.
- How to prepare the 1st tomato puree Tempering: Heat the oil in a deep pan.Let it come to boiling point and leave smokes.Switch off the flame and let the oil come to warm temperature.Its necessary to cook the mustard oil before you start cooking food in it.Now, heat it again and now add cumin seeds .Let them splutter and then add the tomato base as prepared in step 1.Now add 1/4 tsp of salt, red chilli powder and a pinch of turmeric powder.Simmer and let this mixture cook till oil separates. You may cover to expedite the process.Now,add the cooked dal and water if needed for consistency.Add the tomato puree and butter now.Cover this and cook for 5-6 minutes or till the dal is nicely cooked and creamy in texture. Add the kasoori methi and cream and bring to one boil.
- Pour in a serving bowl.In another pan heat ghee and once hot add the green chilli. Once the green chilli starts to splutter,pour this over the served dal.
- Serving: Make a swirl of heavy cream over the dal and garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve hot with rice,pilaf ,naan or roti with fresh onion and green salad.