Skip to main content

Indian Dal Makhani / Kaali Dal

Dal Makhani
Most days I cook a vegetarian meal for us. Beans or lentils are definitely a part of it. Today, I made a North Indian style Dal with phulka for our lunch. The most popular Indian dal recipe, known as Dal Makhani or Maa ki Dal.

Ingredients:
Urad Dal/Split Black Gram - 1/2 cup
Rajma/Red Kidney Beans - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1 medium
Tomatoes - 2 medium
Green Chilies - 2
Garlic - 3 big cloves
Ginger (grated) - 1 tsp
Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander/Dhania Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin/Jeera Powder - 1/2 tsp
Kasuri Methi/Dry Fenugreek Leaves - 1 tbsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Red Chili Powder - 1/4 tsp
Unsalted Butter - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Milk Cream - 1/4 cup
Salt

 How to cook Indian Daal Makhani:
  • Soak urad dal and rajma in plenty of water for 8 - 10 hours or overnight. Wash the soaked dal and rajma well, about 4 - 5 times in running water.
  • Pressure cook washed dal and rajma with 2 - 3 cups of water until soft and mushy. Alternately, you can cook dal and rajma in a pot with plenty of water as well. Slightly mash the cooked lentils.
Dal Makhani
  • I don't add salt while cooking beans like rajma, cause sometimes beans are not cooked well. You can add salt if you like.
  • While the lentils are getting cooked, finely chop onions and garlic. Medium chop tomatoes and slit the green chilies lengthwise.
Daal Makhani
  • Heat oil and butter in a pan or kadhai. Add cumin seeds and after few seconds, add onions. Saute until onions soften. Next, add green chilies, ginger and garlic. Saute until onions turn slightly brown.
  • Next, add tomatoes and saute for a minute. Now, add all the spices - coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala, chili powder and crushed kasuri methi. Continue cooking until the moisture of tomatoes is evaporated.
  • Both urad dal and rajma are heavy to digest. Coriander, cumin and especially garlic help in digesting this heavy protein.
Dhal Makhani
  • Lastly, add cooked dal and rajma, salt and about 2 cups water. Bring it to a boil and cook it covered at low heat for 5 - 10 minutes. Cooking at low heat adds more flavor to the dal. If you are in a hurry, high heat is fine too. Continue cooking until you get the desired consistency.
  • Now for the creamy texture, add cream and cook it covered for another 2 - 3 minutes and your Dhal Makhani is ready. 
  • Instead of cream, I add 1/2 cup whole milk sometimes, which tastes good too. But the dal takes a couple more minutes to thicken.
  • Drizzle some more cream or some butter while serving. I like my Daal Makhani with lemon juice and raw red onions. Lentils and beans are rich in iron, but iron is only absorbed when mixed with lemon juice.
Serve creamy Dal Makhani with naan, roti, jeera rice or with phulkas, like I do.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments, Suggestions and Feedback are welcome.
Any comment with a Link/URL or any kind of promotion will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Naval Kol Bhaji / Kohlrabi Stir-fry

Green Kohlrabi called as Navalkol in Marathi and Navilkosu in Kannada, belongs to the cabbage family.  My Mom used to make this stir fry very often.  Just like cabbage, this vegetable in available in two colors - green and purple.  I was quite hesitant about the purple one, as I haven't seen that back in India.  Anyway, I picked the green bulbs and Navalkohl Bhaji with Chana Dal was part of our healthy vegetarian meal today.
14 comments
Read more

Indian Dal / Lentils

Lentils, known as Dal are a staple in an Indian diet, especially vegetarian. For me, dal is comfort food. 5 different dal varieties - Toor, Moong, Chana, Masoor and Urad are commonly used in Indian sweet and savory delicacies. You can cook dal with just one kind or a mix of two or more. I generally cook dal with 1:1 Toor and Moong dals. But then, we like Panchmel or Panchratna Dal too, which is made of all five. Most dal recipes have Toor dal as the primary ingredient. It is also known as Toovar or Arhar dal or Split Pigeon Peas . Some of our family favorite dal recipes are Dalitoy (Konkani Dal)  Tadka Dal Among all lentils, moong dal and masoor dal take lesser time to cook. Moong dal is also known as Split Green Gram or Split Mung Bean . Moong dal is also used in making sweet dishes like Mung Dal Kheer  Mung Dal Puranpoli Chana dal is also known as Split Bengal Gram or Split Chickpeas . Chana Dal takes a little more time to cook as compared to toor dal....
Post a Comment
Read more

Whole Wheat (Atta) Veg Samosa

Samosa, the most loved Indian appetizer with a crisp crust and savory potato stuffing. When you make such fried fast food at home, you get to make some changes to make it healthy.  Here are some Whole Wheat Aloo Matar Samosas for you to try at home and savor them as much as we did. Ingredients: Whole Wheat Flour/Atta - 1 cup Carom Seeds/Ajwain/Owa - 1 tsp Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1/2 tbsp (optional) Olive Oil or any other Oil - 1/2 tbsp Potatoes (Russet) - 2 medium Green Peas/Matar - 1/2 cup Coriander/Dhania Powder - 1/2 tsp Cumin/Jeera Powder - 1/2 tsp Black Pepper Powder - 1/4 tsp Ginger (grated) - 1/4 tsp Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Green Chilli - 1 Coriander/Cilantro Leaves - few sprigs Salt Oil for frying How to make Indian Samosa: Making Samosa Crust:  In a mixing bowl, add whole wheat flour, carom seeds and little salt. Heat ghee and olive oil in a small pan. Add this hot (not warm) ghee and oil to the wheat flour and mix...
9 comments
Read more