Dal Makhani

Some of the lentils are mashed as it simmers, and kasuri methi and butter go in at the end.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter), dairy (cream), dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 250 g whole black gram, urad dal
• 80 g red kidney beans
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 400 g tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cardamom pod
• 2 teaspoons Kashmiri red chilli, ground
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 2 teaspoons kasuri methi, dried fenugreek leaves
• 80 g butter
• 4 tablespoons ghee
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 100 ml cream, to finish
• 20 g coriander leaves, to finish

Method

1. SOME OF THE LENTILS ARE MASHED AS IT SIMMERS, AND KASURI METHI AND BUTTER GO IN AT THE END. Its article gives the whole order and those are the two steps that make the dish rather than a lentil stew. The boiled lentils and beans are combined with the masala and simmered on low heat, OCCASIONALLY MASHING SOME OF THE LENTILS to achieve a creamy texture -- so the creaminess is made in the pan, not poured in. Then KASURI METHI and BUTTER are added TOWARD THE END and it is cooked until thick. Eighty grams of butter arriving late is what the name promises, and boiled for an hour it would just be fat in a dal.
2. TWO PULSES, SOAKED OVERNIGHT TOGETHER. Its article names urad dal and red kidney beans and says overnight. The kidney beans are the smaller part by a long way -- eighty grams to two hundred and fifty -- and they are there for body rather than flavour.
3. THEY ARE BOILED UNTIL COMPLETELY SOFT BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE HAPPENS. An hour and a half, or forty minutes in a pressure cooker. A lentil that still has a centre will not mash, and mashing is the method.
4. THE TADKA IS MADE SEPARATELY AND ITS ARTICLE LISTS IT IN ORDER. Ghee, then onions with a bay leaf and an optional cardamom pod, onions to GOLDEN BROWN, then ginger-garlic paste until the raw smell goes, then tomato puree, chilli and garam masala cooked UNTIL THE OIL SEPARATES.
5. THE MASHING IS OCCASIONAL, NOT THOROUGH. The back of a spoon against the side of the pan, every ten minutes or so. Blended smooth it becomes soup; left alone it stays a bowl of separate beans.
6. THE SIMMER IS LONG AND LOW. At least an hour after they meet, and two is better. This is a dish that tastes of how long it had.
7. THE KASURI METHI IS CRUSHED BETWEEN THE PALMS AS IT GOES IN. Dried fenugreek leaf is woody until it is rubbed, and rubbing is what releases it.
8. THE CREAM IS A GARNISH, WHICH ITS ARTICLE IS CLEAR ABOUT. A SMALL AMOUNT of cream or yoghurt and chopped coriander, on top. Stirred in by the cupful it is a different and much duller dish.
9. ITS ARTICLE NAMES WHAT IT IS SERVED WITH. Cumin rice, or Naan, as on its own page.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes