Dahl Makhani: A rich, delicious lentil dish

Dal Makhani

Serves 10-12 as side dish, 8-10 as main dish with rice

1 cups black urad dal (black whole dahl)

1/2 cup rajma or red kidney deans


½ cup channa dahl

½ cup chick peas

1 green cardamom


1 teaspoon cumin seeds


2 green chillie pepper
s

3 tablespoons ghee


1/2 onion, chopped


3 cups Makhani Masala, recipe below

2 or more cups water from the drained beans

3/4 cup cream


salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine the two dahls.  Wash them and soak for at least 8 hours in cold water.  Combine the two beans together, wash and soak in cold water for at least 8 hours.  After soaking, drain, rinse, and cook the two batches separately in enough water to cover two times, until they are soft (times may vary between the two batches).  Keep in cooking water and set aside.

While the beans cook, make the makhani masala (or make in advance--recipe below).

Remove the cardamon seeds from the pods.  Place them in a hot heavy bottomed pan and toast them along with cumin seeds until they release their fragrance (should take just a few seconds).  Finely chop the green chillie peppers. 

In a deep, thick bottomed pot or dutch oven heat the ghee or oil. Add the cardamom, cumin seeds and the slit hot green chili peppers. After 30 seconds, add the onions, and cook them at medium heat until they are clear and soft. Add all of the drained beans (reserving liquid) and salt. Stir them together with the ghee or oil and the spices and cook for about 5 minutes at med-high heat.

Add in the Makhani Masala (recipe below). Stir everything together until the lentils/beans are well-coated with the sauce. Add water from the beans to make a soupy consistency.  Simmer the sauce at medium heat for about 20-40 minutes while stirring once in a while.  You want to cook this until the beans are slightly thickened.

Stir in the cream in the pot. Lower the heat. Cover, and cook for another 15 minutes.  Taste for salt and add as needed.

Makhani Masala/ (yields about 4 1/2 cups)

1/2 cup ginger paste


1/4 cup garlic paste


1 stick of cinnamon


4 black cardamom, seeds removed from pods

2 green cardamom, seeds removed from pods


1 tsp fenugreek or methi seeds


1 Tbsp kasoori/kasuri methi or dried fenugreek leaves


5-6  cups puréed fresh tomatoes (or 1 lg. (28 oz.) and one small can (14 oz.) whole tomatoes pureed in blender)


2 tsp red chili powder (optional)


1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder


Salt to taste


2 hot green peppers slit (optional)


1/4 cup melted butter or ghee

INSTRUCTIONS:

Crush the cinnamon and cardamom together (I used a coffee grinder), and set aside. Make a paste of the ginger and garlic (I use a food processor for this job).

Heat butter, ghee, or olive oil  & add cinnamon, cardamom and fenugreek seeds. Once the seeds start to sizzle, add ginger garlic paste, salt, chillie powder and stir and fry till ghee for 1 minute.

Add tomato purée, green chili, cinnamon powder and kasuri methi.

Cook/simmer and reduce the tomato sauce, till done or when the fat and the spice mix/masala leaves the sides of the pan and the oil separates. Make sure to half-cover the pan as the sauce will bubble and splatter.  Add heavy cream and milk. Boil/simmer for about 10 minutes.