Daal makhani is a slow, comforting dish built around black gram, with kidney beans as an optional addition. Soaking the daal ahead makes the cooking easier, and the spices are flexible — keep the focus on the rich, earthy flavour of the lentils.
Ingredients
- 1 cup black uril daal soaked overnight
- ¼ cup kidney beans soaked overnight optional
- 1 thumb ginger
- 4-5 chillies
- 1 tsp salt
- Tomato base
- 2 tbsp ghee any cooking oil will do
- 1 medium brown onion finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp chilli powder
- Finishing touches
- 50 grams butter
- 100 ml cream optional
- 1 tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp fenugreek powder optional
Substitutions
- Black urid daal → Green urid daal
- Cream → coconut milk
Instructions
- OK, so you've soaked your daal ( and optionally the dried kidney beans ) at least over night and are ready to cook.
- You're going to need a pressure cooker ideally, if not, you're going to need to boil the daal for a few hours.
- So rinse your daal and add to the pressure cooker or normal pot, cover in around 1 inch of cold water. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 4-5 sliced chillies. If you have some ginger throw in some big chunks, I normally take it out afterwards, that's way I don't chop it.
- Heat on high until boiling and then simmer. If using a pressure cooker you need around 25 minutes. If using normal pot, you need to cover and simmer for 2 hours. Once the time is up, check the lentils, they should be soft, if not, leave for longer.
- When the daal is softened, take out the ginger and leave the pot on low while we get on with the sauce.
- Heat some ghee or oil in another pot on medium heat. Doesn't matter which oil you use. When the oil is getting hot add the cumin seeds if using. If not just chuck in the chopped onion.
- Once the onions start to soften and turn translucent add 1 teaspoon of coriander and 1/2 teaspoon of chilli power. If you didn't use cumin seeds, add 1 teaspoon of cumin powder now.
- Fry for like a minute and then add the 1/2 can of chopped tomatoes.
- Let that cook on medium, stirring occasionally, for around 10 minutes or until it starts drying or the oil starts separating.
- Now add the daal carefully with all the water from the other pot into this one. Or the other way around, whatever works best in terms of pot size.
- The daal should be a little watery at this stage because we're going to lid and simmer on low for 30 minutes.
- Keep checking that it isn't drying out or sticking to the bottom, if it's getting too dry, add water. Every one likes their daal done to different consistency so just do what works for you as long as its not sticking to the pot and not too watery.
- After around 30 minutes, add 50g of butter, around 100ml of cream if using and mix in.
- Now throw in 1 teaspoon of garam masala. You can get fenugreek in powder, dried leaves or fresh leaves. Either is fine. I prefer the powder unless I have some frozen leave handy. Throw in a 1/2 teaspoon of the powder or dried leaves or a handful of fresh leaves if you have them.
- Turn the heat off and let the daal sit for around 20 minutes.
- Enjoy your daal makhani :)
Leftovers
Leftovers
Daal on Toast
Thicken leftover daal and spoon onto toast, finishing with lemon and fresh coriander. Daal Soup
Loosen with stock or water, warm through and add spinach or any greens that need using. Daal Paratha Filling
Cook the daal down until very thick, cool it and use a little as a filling for flatbread. Daal and Rice Bowl
Serve over rice with leftover vegetables, yoghurt and a little pickle.
Thicken leftover daal and spoon onto toast, finishing with lemon and fresh coriander. Daal Soup
Loosen with stock or water, warm through and add spinach or any greens that need using. Daal Paratha Filling
Cook the daal down until very thick, cool it and use a little as a filling for flatbread. Daal and Rice Bowl
Serve over rice with leftover vegetables, yoghurt and a little pickle.