Dal Makhani

Whenever we have guests home we typically cook a proper North Indian meal with Dal, Roti, Sabji and Chawal unless they are South Indian food lovers.In North Indian, there are so many things that we could cook, but given the time and effort, you always want to cook something tasty and quick so that you can relax and spend time with the guests rather than in the kitchen. In North Indian cuisine, I always loved Dal Makhani - it has been my most favorite dal and I have always ordered that whenever I have been to the restaurant. In my growing up years I have always been intrigued to find out what goes into this dish. After I started cooking, every time I had been to a restaurant for dinner, I started guessing the ingredients. First thing I noticed was it was made of Black Urad dal with traces of Rajma (Red Kidney beans). Slowly I started taking my chances on the ingredients and started trying at home. Everytime I cooked, I started getting closer to the taste as I kept varying the spices used. But there was something missing. Once when shopping for grocery in Norway, I checked out MDH masala and it had the Dal Makhani Masala. I brought that one and believe me when I cooked my Dal Makhani with the usual ingredients and just added this readymade masala on the top, the taste just changed! I got the taste that I was looking for so many times I made this dish! I know this masala is ready made, but it just saves my time and effort in churning out a beautiful dish!

Dal Makhani is considered one of the richest dal in terms of calories. The Makhan(cream) in the Makhani is the culprit for all the calories, but the reason for the creamy texture of the dal. It would be an indulgence  for the fitness freaks. Hence I got into the quest what best can I do to reduce the calorie intake keeping the creaminess of the dal intact. I tried using Dahi (yogurt), but then the dal looked curdled. The next best alternative I could think of was Milk. And voila! the result was superb. I got the same creamy texture as any other restaurant Dal Makhani would do and this one was healthy too! Over the period I realised that Black Urad Dal when cooked also adds to the creaminess of the dal. This has now become one of my signature recipes that I have improvised over last 2-3 years.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup black whole urad dal with 12-13 grains of Red Kidney beans (rajma) (soaked in water for 7-8 hours)
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds (jeera)
• 3 tsp crushed ginger and garlic (or ginger garlic paste)
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes finely chopped (or fresh pureed tomato)
• 1 green chilli finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
• 1 tsp chilli powder or as per the spice desired
• 2 tsp corriander powder (dhaniya powder)
• 1 tsp cumin powder (jeera powder)
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp MDH Dal Makhani masala
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 tsp oil
• Salt to taste
• Corriander leaves (for garnish)

How to make:

1. Cook soaked Black whole urad dal and Red Kidney beans in a pressure cooker for 5-6 whistles (rajma takes time to cook) and let it cool till the pressure in the cooker is released.
2. In a heavy bottomed pan, add oil and let it heat on medium heat. Once hot, add cumin seeds and let it crackle.
3. Add ginger garlic paste and chopped green chilli and saute for a minute. To this add onion and fry till
4. it become clear.
5. Once clear, add turmeric powder, chilli powder, corriander powder, cumin powder and garam masala powder.
6. Fry till the masala leaves oil. Keep the heat low to make sure that the masala does not burn.
7. Add tomato or tomato puree to this masala and cook till tomato turns mushy and oil leaves the sides of the pan.
8. To this add the milk. This gives a gravy consistency. Cook for 3-4 minutes and the gravy will turn thicker.
9. Once the gravy is thick add the cooked Dal mixture, add salt and bring it to boil. Add water as required to get the consistency (not too thick, not too thin)
10. Finally add the MDH Dal Makhani masala and let the dal boil for 5-10 minutes in low heat.
11. Garnish with chopped corriander leaves. (optional: you can swirl in a blob of cream now to make it more presentable. I do it when I have a party ;-))

Tip: For the tomato puree, you could either use the ready made puree or make the puree at home. To make it at home, use the following step:

- blanch the tomato in hot boiling water for 10 minutes and then peel the skin.

- grind the tomato pulp in the blender