Looking for the best Dal Makhani recipe? You've found the right spot! Dal Makhani, a Northern Indian classic, combines whole black gram lentils and red kidney beans to create a rich, creamy gravy. The secret to its irresistible taste lies in perfectly slow-cooking or pressure-cooking the lentils to a tender, velvety texture, making it a comforting and lip-smacking dish.
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Why will you love this dish?
- This dish with the pulses is rich in protein and fiber, and great for vegetarians.
- A great comfort food that can go well with wheat bread, like rotis or rice. Serve along with indian eggplant bharta and bhindi alu masala, and you have a complete meal!
- Tastes rich, creamy, and delicious with a perfect blend of spices.
- Simple to make and needs just a few ingredients that are always in your pantry.
Ingredients you will need:
- Kidney beans and Blackgram dal pressure-cooked and mashed
- Onions, Tomatoes, and green chilies
- Whole Spices like cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon, black cardamom, bay leaves
- Powdered spices: Kashmiri chilly powder, dried mango powder, garam masala(how to make garam masala), nutmeg powder
- Low-fat cream
- Dried fenugreek leaves
How to make the best Dal Makhani Gravy?
It is a myth that you must load the dish with butter or cream. Cook the lentils very well to get the creamy texture for this dish. You should be able to easily mash it with the back of your ladle or spoon. Either slow-cook or pressure-cook to get the desired consistency.
Once you have the lentils cooked, saute the onions, green chilies, and tomatoes with all the spices and cook until you get a nice creamy consistency. Add fenugreek leaves and cream. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
You can add a little cream and butter to enhance the taste of this dish. However, if you are conscious of the calories, you can go light on the butter and cream. This dish is loaded with proteins, carbohydrates, and fibers, which are good for growing kids and adults as well.
- Step 1: Pressure cook the soaked lentils, ginger, bay leaves, and cardamom with salt and plenty of water for about 20 whistles.
- Step 2: Melt the butter, add whole spices, followed by chopped onions, ginger garlic paste, and pureed tomatoes, spices, and cook till oil leaves the sides of the pan.
- Step 3: Add the cooked lentils and adjust the consistency of the gravy. Add chopped coriander leaves.
- Step 4: Add cream and dried fenugreek leaves.
- Step 5: Transfer to a serving bowl.
If you prefer simple dals, you can also try my Phiki dal recipe and Moth dal recipe, which are quite simple and popular. If you want to try some other recipes made with soaked pulses, do try masala rajma, matki dal (moth), or the amritsari chole bhature recipe.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, this dish tastes best when the dal breaks apart and is overcooked as it gets creamy and delicious.
It can be kept in the refrigerator for two to three days and frozen longer.
It goes best with Jeera rice, Ghee rice, or Roti (wheat bread) and Naan.
Related Recipes
If you tried this Best Dal Makhani Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and a 📝 comment below. I love hearing from you!
Best Dal Makhani Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup black lentil whole soaked over night
- ¼ cup kidney beans soaked over night
- 2 green chillies
- 2 medium tomatoes pureed
- 1 large onion
- 1.5 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 inch ginger cut length wise
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 3-4 cloves
- ½ inch cinnamon
- 1 whole black cardamom
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chilly powder
- ¼ tsp dried mango powder
- ¼ tsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp nutmeg powder
- ⅓ cup low fat cream
- 1 tsp dried fenu greek leaves
- 3 tbsp butter or oil
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- ¼ cup coriander leaves chopped
Instructions
- Wash and soak the lentils in plenty of water overnight or for about 8 hours.
- Pressure cook the soaked lentils , ginger , bay leaves, cardamom with salt and water for about 20 whistles.
- Heat up a deep bottomed pan .Melt the butter and add cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon to it.
- Add chopped onions and sautee level.
- Add ginger garlic paste and sautee well
- Add the pureed tomatoes and cook till oil leaves the sides of the pan.
- Add the Kashmiri chilly powder, dry mango powder , nutmeg powder and garam masala powder.
- Add the cooked lentils into this spice mixture.
- Mix well and add a little water to get a flowing consistency.
- Cook for about 20 minutes on low flame .
- Add the cream , dried fenu greek leaves and chopped coriander leaves.
- Serve with rotis or rice .
Notes
- Cook the lentils for 20 whistles, or after 10 whistles, reduce the flame and cook for another 10 minutes. The trick is to cook the dals so well that they are creamy in texture.
- You can skip adding cream if you want to have a lighter version.
- Powder the dried fenugreek leaves with your fingers before adding to the dish.
- Add a tablespoon of canned tomato paste to enhance the taste and color of the dish, you can reduce the pureed tomato and adjust accordingly.
One of my most favorite Dal...very comforting and pleasing to palate...looks damn tempting Nisha and I justtt love with jeera rice😊
Rightly said Jyo it is definitely comfort food that tastes so good .Jeera rice is a great combination with it ! Thank you so much for the comments!
I'm a huge fan of lentils so this is definitely a recipe I'd love to try! It looks delicious 🙂
This is a great dish for lentil lovers and you will definitely love it . Thank you 🙏
Lovely dal, it looks so beautiful & delicious.
Thanks for the fantastic visual treats. 🙂
Thanks a lot Megala for the comments, appreciate it!
Looks delicious!!! Yummy
Thank you so much for the comments!
It looks delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Thank you so much or stopping by and the comments! Glad you like it .
Yummmy
Thanks a lot Deepa 🙏
Looks yummylicious Nisha!❤️❤️
Thanks a lot Richa!
Looks creamy and so delicious! Awesome share Nisha
Thank you Smitha . The creamy texture is the highlight of this dish and it was indeed tasty!
Looks delicious Nisha. 🙂
Thank you Lorelle, it was indeed delicious!