Dal Makhani

Dal makhani sans butter and cream makes this dish light and healthy. It's surprising that my blog which is a collection of over 160 recipes does not have a basic recipe for dal! Hence I thought of posting this simple recipe which amateur cooks will find useful.

Ingredients:

1. Whole Black urud dal-1 cup
2. Oil-1 tbsp
3. Jeera-1 tsp
4. Chopped ginger-1 tsp
5. Chopped garlic-2 pods
6. Green chilli-1 slit into two
7. Cloves-3
8. Cinnamon-2 inch stick
9. Onion-1 small
10. Tomato-1
11. Salt
12. turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
13. Hing-1/4 tsp
14. Red chilli powder- according to taste
15. Kitchen king masala-1/2 tsp

Method:

Soak dal overnight. Pressure cook till it turns soft.
Heat oil a wide pan. Add ingredients 3 to 8. Fry for a few seconds.
Add chopped onions and sprinkle some salt. Fry till they turn soft.
Add tomato and rest of the ingredients. Add some more salt. Fry till tomato turns soft.
Add cooked dal and some water  and bring the mixture to a boil.
Simmer and cook for at least 15-20 minutes. The longer it simmers, the tastier it gets.
Garnish with coriander leaves.
This recipe can be used as a base to make dal with any lentil.

Note:
It is customary to use red kidney beans along with black urud dal in this dish. It makes the gravy buttery and yummy. In this case, use 3/4 cup of black urud and 1/4 cup of red kidney beans.
For rich gravy, top it off with 1/4 cup of heavy cream and saute the veggies in butter.
Soaking is not required for mung dal/green gram dal/thur dal. Cream is not added when these lentils are used to prepare dal.