The Indian Food Court

Dal Makhni is a popular dish and needs no introduction.

In South India though, to the best of my knowledge, we are not at all aware of cooking of the Blackgram dal which is the main ingredient of this particular dish. Of course, we prepare Idlis and Dosas out of it but never cook it directly at all. It was only the first time I prepared this dish when I realized how tasty it would be to cook this dal with Rajma. I borrowed this recipe from two of my friends and prepared it as a side dish for Chapatis. I tasted it with rice as well and it was great ! Why not give it a shot !

What you need to have:

1. Whole Black gram 1 cup

2. Rajma Beans 1/2 cup

Soaked Blackgram & Rajma beans

Ingredients of seasoning:

1. Onions(optional) – 2

2. Tomatoes – 2

3. Ginger – 2″ piece

4. Garlic cloves – 6-8

5 .Turmeric powder – 1 Teaspoon

6. Chilly powder – 1 Teaspoon

7. Fennel powder(Saunf) – 1 Teaspoon

8. Garam Masala powder – 1 Teaspoon

9. Cumin seeds 1 Teaspoon

10. Asafoetida(soft) Size of a peanut

Ingredients to Garnish:

1. Coriander leaves – A handful

2. Butter slice – 4″ long

3. Cream – 2 Teaspoon

Ingredients of Seasoning & Garnishing

What you do with what you have:

1. Wash and chop tomatoes, corriander leaves fine and keep it aside. Also chop Onions, ginger, garlic fine and keep it aside separately.

2. Soak both the Black gram and Rajma in water over night as shown in the image 1 above.

3. Cook soaked lentils in the cooker adding 5-6 cups of water, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder, half of fennel powder on a medium flame till it is quiet soft. Just mash a little when hot itself.

4. Place a skillet with 4 teaspoon of cooking oil on a medium flame. On heating add cumin seeds. When it sputters add chopped onions from step 1 to it and fry till it turns brown on a medium flame adding required quantity of salt to the dish.

5. When onions turn brown add turmeric powder, chilly powder, half of the quantity of the fennel powder,(the other half being used while steaming the lentils) Garam masala powder & chopped ginger-garlic from step 1. Finally add chopped Tomatoes and let it cook on low flame till the oil seperates from it.

6. Add cooked/mashed lentils to it from step 3. Just disslolve the soft asafoetida in a little water and add it to the dish bringing it to boil adding required quantity of water to it adjusting the consistency.

7. Lastly add cream, butter and chopped corriander leaves to it.

Ready to serve Dal Makhani

Serve hot with rice or even rotis. Ready to serve Dal Machani is as shown above.

How long it takes: 45 minutes

Number of servings: 8-10