Dal Makhani Punjabi is an incredibly delicious lentil dish with layers and layers of yummy goodness! A popular Indian dal recipe made from whole black lentils simmered in a creamy tomato onion sauce with aromatic spices and butter. Serve Punjabi black dal with traditional Naan or Roti for a great meal.
I love anything with lentils and Indian butter lentils are just divine! It’s the best recipe with black lentils I’ve ever come across. This popular Punjab dal recipe uses a mix of spices and makes for a warm and comforting dish.
Dal Makhani is pretty easy to prepare. It’s a regular dal in our home! It’s yummy, filling and perfect for those cold wintry days. Buttered black lentils always make you feel better with its creamy texture and rich flavour.
I had earlier posted Dal Makhani Recipe with Red Kidney Beans. This is a simple black dal recipe without Rajma (Red kidney Beans).
Dal Makhani Punjabi Recipe:
Dal Makhani is a classic Indian deliciously buttery lentil dish cooked with fragrant spices. It’s a tasty dal with the truly Indian flavours coming through. There a lot going here in this flavoursome black lentils dish. You just can’t beat home-cooked daal makhani.
- For this dhaba style sabut urad dal recipe, firstly take 1 cup of whole black gram dal in a bowl and wash it well. Soak it overnight in sufficient water.
- Next drain and rinse the soaked black lentils well. Put the sabut urad dal in a pressure cooker along with 3 cups of water, 2 slit chillies 1 sliced onion, salt and asafoetida.
- Then pressure cook the lentils on medium-high flame till soft. Drain and keep aside; reserve the cooking liqueur. (If you don’t have a pressure cooker at home, just add the lentils, water, sliced onions, salt, green chillies and asafoetida to a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, slice onions and tomatoes, slit the chilli, chop garlic and coriander leaves and cut ginger into juliennes.
- Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a large kadai. Then add 2 sliced onions and fry over medium-high heat till they start to brown.
- Add the finely grated ginger and minced garlic. Mix well and fry for 1 minute.
- Now tip in the chopped tomatoes and cook for about 4-5 minutes, till they turn mushy.
- Then add cumin powder, coriander powder, salt and red chilli powder.
- Fry for a couple of minutes till the fragrant mixture starts to ooze oil from the sides.
- Add the cooked black lentils and combine well. Pour the cooking liqueur and simmer for 10-15 minutes, till the gravy starts to thicken. The secret to a flavourful dal is slowly simmering it over low heat.
- Mix in cream and simmer for a couple of minutes on low heat. (You can use milk instead of cream).
- Turn off the gas and stir in butter. Keep the black lentil dahl aside.
- In a small frying pan, heat some ghee over medium heat. Sizzle cumin seeds.
- Pour the hot tempering over the dal. Mix gently to combine. Finally, sprinkle chopped coriander leaves.
- Serve hot Punjabi Dal Makhani Punjabi style with Rice or Indian flatbread.
If you are searching for more Punjabi dal recipes, then do try out Lasooni Yellow Dal Recipe.
Buttery Black Lentils Dhal Dhaba Style:
Ingredients
Pressure Cook:
- Whole black lentils sabut urad dal – 1 cup
- Asafoetida – 1/8 tsp
- Salt – ½ tsp
- Onion – 1 medium finely sliced
- Green chillies – 2 slit
- Water – 3 cups
For Gravy:
- Onions – 2 medium finely sliced
- Ginger – 2-inch piece juliennes
- Garlic – 1 tbsp minced
- Tomatoes – 3 medium chopped
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Coriander powder – 2 tsp
- Cumin powder 2 tsp
- Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
- Cream – ½ cup whisked
- Butter – 1 tsp
- Oil – 2 tbsp
- Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp chopped
For tadka:
- Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
- Ghee – 2 tbsp
Instructions
- Take black lentils in a large bowl and wash well. Cover with water and let stand overnight.
- Drain and wash lentils. Place sabut urad dal in a pressure cooker and add 3 cups of water, one sliced onion, 2 slit green chillies, salt and hing.
- Pressure cook for 6-7 whistles on medium-high flame or till lentils are very tender. Drain the cooked whole black urad dal; reserve the cooking water.
- Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the remaining sliced onions and fry till they start to brown.
- Add the ginger juliennes and minced garlic to the pan. Fry for a minute.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 4-5 minutes, till softened.
- Add the spices – salt, chilli powder, cumin powder and coriander powder. Fry for 1-2 minutes till all the ingredients are well incorporated and the mixture is fragrant.
- Add the tender black gram lentils to the pan and mix well. Add the reserved cooking water and cook covered for about 10 minutes, till you get a thick gravy-like consistency.
- Stir in heavy cream and simmer for 1-2 minutes, until well combined. (You can substitute cream with milk).
- Remove from heat and add a small knob of butter. Set aside the black gram dal.
- Heat ghee in a small kadai. Add cumin seeds and sauté till they stop popping. Carefully pour the tadka over the cooked lentils and mix to combine. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.
- Serve Creamy Indian Black Lentil Dal with Naan.
Notes
- You can add ½ cup of kidney beans if you like.
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