Dal makhani is a dish originating from New Delhi, and it’s a modern variation of the traditional dal based on lentils.
Made with urad dal (black lentils) and rajma (red beans), it includes butter (in Hindi, makhan means butter) and cream.
Once again, like butter chicken (murgh makhani), it was the owners of “Moti Mahal” in New Delhi who invented this dish, at the suggestion of a regular customer.
Lentils and beans are soaked overnight and slow-cooked, traditionally up to 6 hours, with ginger, garlic, and a few other spices, including garam masala.
These are then combined with onions and tomatoes (chopped or pureed) and sometimes pomegranate seeds.
On the blog, you can find another recipe for “dal” based on “rajma”:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 8 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Boiling
- Cuisine: Indian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 7 oz urad dal
- 2 oz rajma (red beans)
- 5 tbsps butter
- to taste ghee
- 1 onion
- 1/2 red chili powder
- 7 oz tomatoes
- 3 tbsps cooking cream
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- to taste fresh ginger
- 2 leaves bay leaf
- 1 tsp garam masala
- to taste salt
Steps
Wash and soak the urad dal and red beans for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight, in a sufficient amount of water.
Then drain, rinse, and boil them in 5-6 cups of water with salt, red chili powder, and grated ginger until soft (about 1 hour).
Heat the ghee in a thick-bottomed pan.
Add the bay leaves, garam masala, chopped onion, and cook until golden brown, then add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté.
Add the chopped tomatoes.
Continue until the tomatoes are well mashed.
Add the slightly mashed legume mix and hot water if necessary.
Mix well and simmer until thickened (about 1 hour).
Adjust the salt.
Add the fresh cream and butter and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Garnish with butter or cream and serve.
If you want to make a quicker version of Dal Makhani, you can choose from the recipes of HelloFresh, a world leader in recipe kits.
Use my code HELLOIT587 to receive 2 boxes
with a 30% discount or click directly on the link: https://www.filify.co/SH56C
@viaggiandomangiando Vuoi cucinare indiano 🇮🇳? Scegli una box @HelloFresh . Oggi prepariamo insieme il Rajma Makhani. 👉🏻Chiedimil il link in DM per ordinare la prina nox #hellofresh super scontata ! #ricettaindiana #box #cucinaindiana #cosamangiare #indianfood #collaborazione #adv
♬ suono originale – ViaggiandoMangiando
Indian Dals:
The most common way to prepare dal is as a soup to which onions, tomatoes, and various spices are commonly added.
Almost all types of dal can be prepared in three forms:
sabut (which means whole in Hindi), for example, sabut urad dal or mung sabut with unskinned lentils;
chilka (which means skin in Hindi), for example, chilka urad dal, mung dal chilka, meaning unskinned lentils ground into a puree;
dhuli (which means washed), for example, urad dhuli or mung dhuli with skinned legumes.
