Dal Makhani
Dal makhani is the buttery whole urad dal flavored with multiple whole spices, cooked to a level where it becomes creamy. This no soak, pressure cook recipe of Dal Makhani is perfectly creamy, earthy, spicy, and smoky.
Equipment
- Pressure cooker
Ingredients
Boiling Dal
- 1 cup Urad dal (sorted and washed)
- 5 cups Water for cooking (if soaking use 4.5 cups)
- ½ can Red kidney beans (pre-cooked)
Spices (for infusing the dal)
- 3 Greater cardamom (Badi Elaichi )
- 2 Cloves
- 1 2"stick Cinnamon
- 2 tbsp Crushed ginger
- 3 cloves Garlic (Crushed)
- 1 ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric
- ½ flower Mace (javitri )
Ingredients for Tempering
- 3 tablespoon Butter (2 tbsp+ 1 tbsp)
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- 1 tablespoon Whole cumin
- 2-3 leaves Bay leaf
- 1 cup Finely chopped onion
- 3 cloves Garlic (Minced )
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon Garam masala
- 1 teaspoon Smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon Chili powder
- 1 pinch Asafetida
- 3 tablespoon Tomato paste
- ¼ teaspoon Sugar
- ¼ cup Heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon Dry roasted cumin (coarsely crushed)
Instructions
- Sort and wash the measured quantity of whole urad dal.
- Into a pressure cooker add dal with 5 cups of water.
- Also add crushed ginger and garlic, turmeric, salt, crushed seeds of greater cardamom, cloves, javitri, and cinnamon.
- Mix with a few strokes of a ladle and close the pressure cooker.
- Place it on a gas stove with a high flame. Let it cook on high flame till the first two whistles.
- Then, reduce the gas to a low flame. Let the dal cook at this low flame for about an hour and 15 minutes.
- In the meantime chop onions and mince the garlic.
- After an hour and 15 minutes, turn off the flame and let the pressure cooker cool and the pressure release on its own.
- Place another pan on gas and heat.
- Add oil and butter.
- As the butter melts add whole cumin seeds and bay leaves.
- When cumin becomes aromatic add the finely chopped onions and garlic. Sauté till it starts to turn golden brown.
- Reduce the flame to low and add tomato paste with ¼ cup of water.
- Add the powdered spices, coriander powder, garam masala, chili powder, asafetida, paprika, and sugar.
- Let everything cook together for 4-5 minutes or till it starts to leave oil.
- Now add the heavy cream and cook for additional 3-5 minutes.
- Carefully transfer the boiled dal and half a can of pre-cooked red kidney beans.
- Mix everything well and adjust the consistency if required by adding the required volume of hot water.
- Cover the pan and let everything simmer for 10 minutes.
- Finish off with a tablespoon of reserved butter and dry roasted cumin.
- Serve hot with naan, roti or rice.
Notes
- Use the spices available with you. Spices like asafetida, mace, and greater cardamom are not easily available. Feel free to skip them. Dal Makhani will still be good.
- It tastes equally good without any kind of beans.
- If you want to add beans anyway, use whichever bean you like. If you want to boil some bean with the un-soaked dal, use smaller sized beans like pinto beans, soya beans or small kidney beans.
- Use store-bought tomato paste preferably. Alternately use a puree of three fresh tomatoes by simply blending them.
- If you are soaking your Whole urad dal, reduce the water volume by half a cup. Also, the cooking time will come down by about half an hour.
- Once the dal is cooked and you open the pressure cooker, you will know exactly how much water your dal needs. If dal is dry and very little water if left in the cooker, add the desired volume of hot water to fix the overall consistency. Make a note of it and always add that much more water when you boil the dal the next time.
- Adjust salt and chili according to your taste and heat tolerance. Smoked paprika is not very hot so, add chili powder as per your taste.
- If you see that your dal is not creamy and well boiled. Just temper it and let simmer for a longer time till it becomes smooth and creamy.
Nutrition
Calories: 404kcal
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