Dal Makhani Recipe - Learn How To Make Dal Makhani

Dal Makhani is one of the most relished dishes of the Punjabi cuisine. It makes great combinations with phulkas, kulcha, steamed rice, tawa and lachha parathas. Learn how to make this dish with the help of step by step photos and detailed recipe given below:

Preparation Time: 6 hours to soak black skinned gram + 5 minutes to gather and prepare the ingredients

Cooking Time: 35 minutes

Recipe Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• Whole Black Lentils (sabut urad dal) - 1/2 cup
• Red and Small Sized Kidney Beans (chhota lal rang ka rajma) - 1 handfull
• Salt as per taste
• Turmeric Powder (haldi powder) - 1 tea spoon
• Red Chilli Powder (lal mirch powder) - 1/2 tea spoon
• Cumin Seeds Powder (jeera powder) - 1/2 tea spoon
• Garam Masala Powder- 1/2 tea spoon
• Asafoetida (hing) - 1 pinch
• Cumin Seeds (sabut jeera) - 1/2 tea spoon
• Bay Leaf (tej patta) - 1
• Onion (pyaz) - 1/2 finely chopped
• Tomato - 1 chopped
• Garlic Petals (lehsun ki kali) - 4
• Ginger (adrak) - 1/2 inch piece
• Desi Ghee - 1 big spoon 
• Fresh Cream (or malai) - 2 big spoon
• Mint Leaves (pudina patta) or Coriander Leaves (dhaniya patti) - for garnishing as per requirement
• Green Chilli (hari mirch) - for garnishing as per requirement

Procedure:

1. Wash and soak the whole black lentils (sabut urad dal) and the small red kidney beans (chhota lal rajma) in seperate vessels for 6 hours.
2. After soaking strain off the excess water from both the vessels and again wash the whole black lentils (sabut urad dal) and the small red kidney beans (chhota lal rajma) with plain water. Then transfer both the whole black lentils (sabut urad dal) and the small red kidney beans (chhota lal rajma) to a cooker and add 3 cups water to it. Add a little salt to the cooker and cover it with the lid. Now pressure cook the ingredients on high flame for one whistle, then lower the flame to cook for 8 more minutes. Turn off the flame after 8 minutes and allow the cooker to cool down.
3. Take the chopped tomato, garlic petals (lehsun ki kali) and ginger (adrak) in mixer jar and grind the ingredients to form a fine paste.
4. Heat a kadhai and add shudh ghee to it. When the ghee is hot add the cumin seeds (sabut jeera) and bay leaf (tej patta) to it. Allow the cumin seeds (sabut jeera) to crackle and then add the finely chopped onion to it.
5. Saute the onion till they turn light red in color and then add the tomato & garlic-ginger paste (prepared in the previous step) to the kadhai. Stir and saute the paste a little.
6. Now add turmeric powder (haldi powder), salt as per taste, red chilli powder (lal mirch powder) and cumin seeds powder (jeera powder) to kadhai. Mix well and cook the masala being prepared well till the ghee begins to seperate from the masala.
7. Add the cooked whole black lentils (sabut urad dal) and the small red kidney beans (chhota lal rajma) along with the water from the cooker to the kadhai. Allow the dal to boil for some time and add garam masala powder to it and mix well.
8. Add fresh cream or malai to the dal and then mix well.
9. Now mash the dal a little with the help of a ladle (kalchul). (do not mash the dal completely) This will help in thickening the consistency of the dal and will give it a creamy texture.
10. Now transfer the hot dal makhani to a beautiful serving bowl and garnish with mint leaves (pudina patta) or coriander leaves (dhaniya patti) and green chillis (hari mirch). The tempting creamy dal mkhani is now ready to served with hot phulkas, tawa parathas, kulcha or rice.