Dal Makhni, the most famous of Punjabi lentils dish

Utterly, butterly, dark and delicious, is this famous dal

Dal Makhni, meaning butterly lentils

A festive occasion—like Karva Chauth—or guests for lunch or dinner in a Punjabi household, means a menu that simply  must have “Maah di dal”, which  has a formal name too—Dal Makhni. The only difference is the huge chunk of butter that converts the plain maah di dal into  Dal Makhni. Preferably home –made white butter, is  added before  the  smooth, dark and viscos dish is garnished and placed on the dining table.

Often times, a handful of  kidney beans , soaked overnight, are added to the sabut urad dal, as the simple cooking process begins.

Sabut Urad or Black gram

It can easily be made the one pot—sorry, pressure cooker-- way.

Ingredients:

Sabut /Whole /Unhusked Urad -1 cup

Kidney beans(optional)-One heaped tablespoon

Oil-two teaspoons

Onions chopped-2(I used onion powder instead)

Ginger- a one inch piece,grated

Garlic—five or six pods, chopped fine

Tomatoes, ginger, garlic

Clove-a few

Cinnamon stick-one inch

Cardamom-two or three

Bay leaves- two

Tomatoes chopped—one large one

Salt to taste.

Chilli powder-one teaspoon

Dhaniya-Jeera powder—one teaspoon

Kasoori Methi powder-1 teaspoon

Butter- 50 gms

Spices

Soak the kidney beans alone overnight.(I did not use kidney beans)  Wash the whole urad,  and set aside.

Place  a large pressure cooker on the gas, and add the oil. When it becomes hot, add the cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, and cardamom. Stir, and add the chopped garlic, and stir once more. Now add the onions, (or onion powder) and stir well for a couple of minutes, by when the onions should be somewhat limp and transluscent. Now add the  ginger and stir. Next add the chopped tomatoes, and stir. 

Add a touch of salt—not the full amount to your taste—at this stage. This will help the tomatoes and onions release their juices, in which all the things in the pressure cooker will blend. 

All ingredients will simmer away

If it looks as if the paste inside is sticking to the pressure cooker, add two tablespoons of water, and stir well. Three minutes later, add the washed dals and kidneybeans, and about four cups of water, stir well. Place the lid on the pressure cooker, and put the weight on.

About five to ten minutes later—depending on the pores of your gas burner/its efficiency, the water , the altitude etc--  the pressure cooker will release steam—some call this “whistling” by the cooker!

Almost cooked..but needs more water, crushing

When your pressure cooker begins to whistle, reduce the flame to the minimum, and let it hiss on gently for about 15 minutes. Switch off, and let the pressure come down naturally, something that could take about  10 minutes.

Open the pressure cooker lid carefully if you are new to this kind of cooking.

 If it seems as if all the water has been absorbed by the lentils, add a cup of water, and using a heavy ladle, press some of the dals along the wall of the pressure cooker, and stir well to ensure that the lentils don’t settle down at the bottom, while the water is floating on top. 

The idea is that the dal and water should have become a nice , soft, well-blended, thick  fluid.—it should not be too watery, or too thick.

Add water, mash and simmer for a while more

 Now switch on the gas again, and place the pressure cooker  with the dal on it, add the salt, chilli powder, coriander powder, jeera powder, and kasoori methi powder. Stir well for two minutes, switch off.

Transfer to  the serving bowl, add the dollop of butter and garnish with chopped green coriander.

A dollop of butter and black dal  becomes dal makhni

PS:

The dhabhas in Punjab , instead of using a pressure cooker,  put all the ingredients into one huge “balti” ( a steel bucket), and leave it inside the  tandoor after the last  “roti”  for the night has been made. It is slow cooking at its best .The burning coal and cinders  cook the dal slowly, resulting in a heavenly tasting “maah di dal”.

This style found its way into fine dining restaurants after Col Harsharan Singh, who started the much loved, small Pankaj Hotel with a restaurant called Noor, in Chandigarh, way back. He threw in a fauji touch, called it “Balti Dal”, and they served it in tiny copper and steel buckets that have become popular with people and places serving Moghlai food.

But this “Dal Makhni” is totally Punjabi !