Dal Makhani

It’s soup season! My favourite food season of all. If you’ve been on my blog or IG, you know how much love I have for soup. BUT this isn’t a soup recipe; it’s one of my favourites and filling dal’s.

While dal is eaten and loved all year round, this is a perfect dal for a cold winter or fall night. Not to mention that it’s filled with oodles of butter. I mean, it’s the name in itself.

Makhani = butter. Makhani is the Punjabi word for butter.

Be warned that this is a rich and high-fat dish. And somedays that’s all you want/need. You’ll want a second bowl of this — but it’s so filling that you might not be able to finish that second helping 🙂

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Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cup of black urad dal, washed and soaked overnight
• 1/3 cup heavy cream for drizzling over the dal
• 1 and 1/2 stick of European style butter
• 1/3 cup ghee
• 1 can San Marzano tomato (28oz), or any can tomato purée
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 2 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
• 5 garlic cloves, grated
• 1.5 inch ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon roasted fenugreek powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 4 to 5 Bird’s eye chillies (optional)

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Directions

1. Wash the urad dal 3 to 4 times until the water runs clear-ish. Soak in double the amount of water and let it soak overnight.
2. In a pressure cooker or instant pot, drain and add the urad dal and double the amount of water into the pressure cooker and cook for 40 minutes.
3. While the dal is cooking in a medium-sized pot, add in 2 tablespoons of ghee and fry the onions, garlic, ginger and chillies for 5 to 8 minutes on medium heat.
4. Add Kashmiri chilli and tomato paste and cook it out– until the ghee floats to the surface.
5. Pour in the tomato purée and cook for 10 to 15 minutes and make sure everything is homogenized.
6. Drain and add the cooked urad dal to the tomato and spice mixture (if you don’t train the water, the dal may have a bitter after taste).
7. Add in a stick of butter, cumin and fenugreek and cook for about an hour on medium to low heat.
8. Check to see if you like the consistency and mouth feel of the dal after an hour. If you like it more creamy and smooth — cook for another 30 minutes to an hour.
9. Once the dal is to your liking, add in salt to taste and garam masala — and using a potato masher, mash the dal a little bit to break it down further.
10. Drizzle cream and add a sliver of butter to the dal before serving or eating. This goes great with some tandoori roti or naan and, of course, rice.