Friday, October 10, 2008

Creamy Dal Makhani



No that is not my plate. It's Dad's. There is roasted papad, Stuffed Karela, Boondi ladoo, the true Dal Makhani with cream and steamed rice; a Punjabi meal.


I made Dal Makhani on a working day. It was my first time cooking it at home.

My version is inspired by this Dal Makhani but I did not follow it exactly and Bee and Jai's advice of soaking the lentils in lots of water worked.

Here is what I did based on my observation of how Punjabi women cook at home. Those steps that they follow makes the dish Maa-di-dal ! Humm the debate has already been done on Jugalbandi.

Ingredients

2/3 cup whole blank lentils
1/3 cup Red kidney beans
1 big onion chopped
2 tomatoes
1 teaspoon ginger and garlic paste
1 green chili
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
2 teaspoon oil
1 tablespoon cream (skimmed from boiled milk)
salt to taste


Preparation:

Soaking:
Soak the black lentils and Red kidney beans together in lots of water. I soaked for almost 18 hrs. Before going to bed I changed the water fearing it would get slimy till morning. That helped. The beans soaked well and stayed clean.

Boiling the beans:
In a pressure cooker put lot of water to cover the beans. Cook for about 5 whistles or 35 mins. Let it cool. Meanwhile work on the masala.

The masala :
Heat oil. Fry the onions till soft. Add the ginger garlic paste. Add the chopped tomatoes . Fry till soft. Add all the spice powders and green chili. Put the heat off. Let it cool. Grind to a smooth paste.

Final cooking:
Drain excess water from the cooker. Keep only as much you require for the gravy. Keep aside the drained water incase you need to adjust the thickness of the Dal. Mash the beans with a potato masher. Mix in the masala and cook on sim for 10 mins.

I skimmed the cream from the boiled milk pot and mixed it in my father's portion of dal. I went lite without it.

Since I had heard that this Dal tastes better as the flavours are allowed to mature I made it in the morning for my packed lunch and we had it for dinner too. The creamy gravy got used up for lunch! So you see more lentils in the picture.

4 comments:

  1. have u changed ur template? this looks cool! lovely recipe btw!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sangeeth you missed this :)

    http://annaparabrahma.blogspot.com/2008/10/asa-gela-dasara.html

    ReplyDelete

Thank You for taking the time to leave your thoughts here.

On Trail