Ironically, my mom doesn’t cook this so this isn’t really maa ki dal to me. We are South Indians for whom dal doesn’t form part of a typical meal and though amma cooks an occasional rajma masala or paneer tikka masala , dal makhani is too foreign to us and never really occurred to her to try and cook, I guess.
Her daughter, obviously, loves to take on more than she can chew sometimes (literally!) and takes pleasure in experimenting on never-before-cooked recipes especially when she has guests. I most often mess up on my most tried and tested recipes when I have guests (is it the pressure or is it the expected behaviour, I can never tell).
Anyway, dal makhani has been on the back of my head forever and I recently got a bag of whole black lentils (whole black urad dal) and I decided to try it on an evening we had a young North Indian couple. Brave, aren’t I? 😉
This is a milder version of the dish as I was serving it with spiced up vegetable pulao. I also avoided the cream that is usually an essential ingredient for this recipe.
Dal Makhani Recipe (Serves 4) Ingredients: ½ cup whole ural dal (black lentils), soaked overnight 4 tablespoon rajma (red kidney beans), soaked overnight with the dal 1 onion, chopped fine 1 tomato, chopped fine 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera) 1 teaspoon garam masala ½ teaspoon red chilly powder 2 dried red chillies 2 tablespoon milk 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon oil Salt How to make Dal Makhani: 1. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and saute onions till transparent. Add salt, chilly powder and the ginger-garlic pasted and fry for a minute. 2. Next, add the chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes so that the mixture combines well together. Add the lentils and beans, and enough water to just cover them. Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Remove from fire and set aside. 3. Once the pressure leaves the cooker, keep it on a low fire. Add the milk and bring to boil. Keep it on sim and let it boil while preparing to temper it. 4. Heat the butter and oil in a pan and throw in the cumin seeds. Once they start spluttering, add the chopped garlic and the red chillies each torn into 3 pieces. Fry until the garlic starts browning and smelling lovely. 5. Remove the dal from fire and add the tempered butter-oil directly to it. Follow immediately with garam masala and mix well. Adjust salt. Serve with warm rotis, naan or an easy veg pulao .
Ironically, my mom doesn’t cook this so this isn’t really maa ki dal to me. We are South Indians for whom dal doesn’t form part of a typical meal and though amma cooks an occasional rajma masala or paneer tikka masala , dal makhani is too foreign to us and never really occurred to her to try and cook, I guess.
Her daughter, obviously, loves to take on more than she can chew sometimes (literally!) and takes pleasure in experimenting on never-before-cooked recipes especially when she has guests. I most often mess up on my most tried and tested recipes when I have guests (is it the pressure or is it the expected behaviour, I can never tell).
Anyway, dal makhani has been on the back of my head forever and I recently got a bag of whole black lentils (whole black urad dal) and I decided to try it on an evening we had a young North Indian couple. Brave, aren’t I? 😉
This is a milder version of the dish as I was serving it with spiced up vegetable pulao. I also avoided the cream that is usually an essential ingredient for this recipe.
Dal Makhani Recipe (Serves 4) Ingredients: ½ cup whole ural dal (black lentils), soaked overnight 4 tablespoon rajma (red kidney beans), soaked overnight with the dal 1 onion, chopped fine 1 tomato, chopped fine 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera) 1 teaspoon garam masala ½ teaspoon red chilly powder 2 dried red chillies 2 tablespoon milk 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon oil Salt How to make Dal Makhani: 1. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and saute onions till transparent. Add salt, chilly powder and the ginger-garlic pasted and fry for a minute. 2. Next, add the chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes so that the mixture combines well together. Add the lentils and beans, and enough water to just cover them. Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Remove from fire and set aside. 3. Once the pressure leaves the cooker, keep it on a low fire. Add the milk and bring to boil. Keep it on sim and let it boil while preparing to temper it. 4. Heat the butter and oil in a pan and throw in the cumin seeds. Once they start spluttering, add the chopped garlic and the red chillies each torn into 3 pieces. Fry until the garlic starts browning and smelling lovely. 5. Remove the dal from fire and add the tempered butter-oil directly to it. Follow immediately with garam masala and mix well. Adjust salt. Serve with warm rotis, naan or an easy veg pulao .
