Dal Makhani
April 18th, 2008 filed under Dal (Lentils)
Dal Makhani is a popular north Indian dish; it is rich and hearty. Dal Makhani is a combination of whole urad and red kidney beans. It goes great with Naan or Tandoori Roti.
Serves 2 to3.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup whole urad dal
- 1/8 cup red kidney beans (Rajma)
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 minced green pepper or adjust to taste (Hari Mirch)
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (Haldi)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon mango powder (Amchoor)
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/4 cup cream
- 2 tablespoons ghee or clarified butter
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed (Jeera)
- Pinch of asafetida (Hing)
- 3 to 4 whole red chilies (Sabut Lal Mirch)
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili powder optional (Lal Mirch)
For garnish:
- 1/2 tablespoon shredded ginger
Method:
- Wash urad dal and kidney beans well and soak dal in about 6 cups of water for about 8 hours. After soaking dal will be about 2 1/2 times the volume of the original.
- In pressure cooker add dal with four cups of water, salt, turmeric, ginger and green pepper, cook on medium high heat.
- As pressure cooker starts steaming turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 25 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and wait until steam has stopped before opening the pressure cooker. Dal and Kidney beans should be soft and tender.
- Lightly mash the dal and kidney beans, cook for another 5 minutes on low medium heat.
- Add cream, garam masala, and amchoor powder and let it cook for about 10 minutes on low heat.
- Heat the ghee in a small saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if it cracks right away the oil is ready.
- Add cumin seeds, and as the cumin seeds crack add asafetida, red chilies and red chili powder and stir for a few seconds.
- Add 1 teaspoon of water to keep the spices from burning. Pour spiced ghee over dal.
- Garnish with shredded ginger.
Leanne,
the options to replace ghee could also be vegan butter (for the flavour) or margarine, if you are interested
Suzanne,
Just out of curiosity – what do vegans normally use as replacements for butter(ghee) and cream?
Manjula is right – you can use the oil in place of the ghee but if it were me, I’d use as little as possible because the ghee, in terms of this recipe, gives it an added special flavor or layer of flavor as opposed to just using it as an ingredient to fry the spices in. As for the coconut milk – I guess you will just have to just try it – coconut milk isn’t as thick as heavy cream so maybe coconut cream? Is there anything else you can try for a substitute other than coconut for the heavy cream? Again as well, the cream adds a specific flavor to the recipe also. Good luck – let us know how it turned out!
Leanne, Hi, usually, to replace cream in a recipe, I would use either coconut milk/cream, soft tofu, or there is also a cream-like soy product made by Belsoy – comes in a small carton and is called a ‘creamy soya preparation for cooking’. This product is organic and has a pleasant taste, very similar consistancy as cream.
Hi Manjula – I love this recipe, but I am vegan. do you think I could replace the cream with coconut milk and the ghee with oil?
Susanne,
Try it.
Hi Manjula,
I made this following the typed recipe and it was very disapointing as it was very thin. Not at all like the creamy dal in your video. When I watched the video again it seems that you say to add three cups of water not the four cups as printed in the recipe. Could you please clarify and amend the incorrect recipe.
Thank you.
tried out this recipe it turned out fantastic thank you so much for posting this keep up the good work
Catherine,
I’m married to an Indian as well and have been for ten years – I was in your shoes for quite some time but cook Indian 80% of the time.
Would love to correspond with you – please write to me at lianealbert@gmail.com – it would be great to hear from you, trade stories and recipes.
Good luck with cooking – it’s a piece of cake once you get the hang of it and I have some other tips / hints to help you along as well.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon!
Liane
Namaste Aunty,
I am an Australian who has got married with an Indian man and THANK GOD for you as I can now cook some dishes for him!! Coming from Australia I couldnt cook very much vegetarian food and the poor guy was living on scrambled eggs and Maggi noodles! Your recipes have helped us alot and are really very yummy and well presented. Thankyou again from my husband also, and keep posting more and more
Hi Catherine,
from where about in Australia?
I am an Aussie too…..
Looks delicious, Manjula!
If I wanted to reduce the fat, should I use half and half or whole milk instead of heavy cream?
Hi Manjula,
Thank you for all the wonderful Indian recipes. I am new to Indian cooking, but thanks to your recipes and videos, I am really loving it. Everything of yours that I have tried so far has turned out so well. You’re a great teacher.
My question is, if I don’t have a pressure cooker, how long should I cook the lentils?
Thanks!
Dear Manjula aunty,
, but it tasted gr8! Thank you again…
Thank u for ur recipes, its really simple & nice, easy for singlets to make. I tried this recipe with variation with other normal dals coz i dint have what was needed