Dal Makhani

One of the nice things that happened to me last week was the visit of my friend R. It was a lovely rendezvous after a looonnnnnggg time. Though both of us have been in touch very regularly, meeting in person was something very special.

Naturally, my head was full of ideas as to what I would make for dinner.. With a lot of yeses and nos, I decided to make few of my favourites. I tried to keep it very simple so that we have enough time to just sit and talk. With a menu as simple as Dal Makhani, Jeera rice and Phulkas, we did get ample time to catch up on our two-years’ bottled-up tales till four in the morning!

Coming to this post, I would like to dedicate it to my dear friend R. She wanted this recipe and I am blogging it, particularly for her. My recipe for Dal Makhani s adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor and Sanjay Thumma.



Ingredients: (serves three)

Sabut urad dhall: ½ cup
Rajma: 2 tbsps
Ginger ( grated or chopped): 2 inch piece
Garlic (grated): 6 cloves
Tomatoes (medium): 3, ground to a fine paste
Garam masala pwd : 1 tsp
Dhaniya pwd : 1 tsp
Red chilli powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric powder: ¼ tsp
Kasuri methi : 1 tbsp
Butter : 3 tbsp
Oil: 2 tbsp
Milk : ½ cup
Salt: to taste
For the tadka: Cloves, cinnamon, elaichi, bay leaf and 1 tsp jeera
Corriander leaves: to garnish

Method of preparation

· Soak urad dhall and rajma in three cups of water for eight hours or overnight
· Add half the ginger, half the salt and half the chilli powder and pressure cook the dhall till the rajma becomes soft. Do not throw away the cooking liquor
· Take a kadai. Heat oil. Tadka with the items mentioned
· Add ginger – garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes
· Now add the tomato puree
· Cook on a slow flame with a covered lid for five minutes
· When it starts boiling, add chilli powder, coriander powder and salt
· Cover the lid and cook well again
· Now, add the butter and cook again
· When it has cooked for about 10 - 12 minutes in all, add the cooking liquor and cook very well
· After it has cooked for about 10 minutes, add the dhall and mix well
· Adjust salt and cook again covered
· The cooked dhall would be brownish red in colour
· Now kasuri methi should be added. This is ‘the’ ingredient that adds all the lovely flavour to the dish
· Now add ½ cup of milk. You could go upto one cup also. The technique is to add the milk gradually, little by little, so that the milk does not curdle. You could add cream if you want to make the gravy rich
· Cover and cook on as low a flame as possible till the gravy reaches the right consistency. The more the gravy cooks, the better it tastes.
· Garnish with coriander leaves.
· Done!