Punjaab di shaan...Daal Makhani

I was born and brought up in a contemporary yet traditional punjabi family setup, where I picked up cooking and developed a fondness with kitchen at a very young age..And so, I will start my blog with my family's favourite dish, and the most sought after traditional 'punjabi daal makhani'..

Richey rich in taste, with subtle flavours, and can be made healthy with few alterations. Here you go..

Daal makhani is traditionally made with black urad daal (lentils), in combination with small quantities of red rajma and chana daal. You need to soak a cup of black urad daal with half a cup of rajma and 2 to 4 tsps of chana daal in water for about 6 to 8 hours.

Drain water from daal, and pressure cook with about 3-4 cups of water, and some salt. Cooking urad daal usually takes longer compared to other varieties of lentils. After 1 pressure cooker whistle, you will need to cook the daal on low flame for about 30 to 40 minutes. Daal needs to get to semi-mashed state once all the steam has escaped from the pressure cooker.

For Tadka / Tempering, you will need:

4-5 medium to large size red tomatoes, ginger-garlic crushed paste (1-2 tbsp), Round black pepper, 1-2 cups of cream/milk/curd+milk, kasuri methi (optional), ground garam masala, red chilli powder, a dollop of butter or thick cream & coriander for garnishing.

You need to boil the tomatoes till the skin comes off, and puree the skin peeled tomatoes.

Heat some oil / ghee in a wok (kadhai). Add round black pepper in hot oil, followed with the crushed ginger-garlic paste. Immediately add some red chilly powder to provide color to the dish. Add the tomato puree, along with salt and garam masala. Fry (bhuno) this tomato masala till the oil separates and leaves nice and red thick tomato masala.  At this point, add 2 tbsp of whipped curd to the masala, and fry for another 2 minutes. Add this masala to the boiled daal, and put the daal on high flame. Add 2 cups of cream or milk + cream or curd + milk (depending on how rich you want your daal to be and how much you want to cut down on your calorie intake). Let the daal come to a boil, and then leave the daal with occasional stirring on low flame for atleast 30-40 minutes.

Here comes the tip for that amazing daal makhani you have always craved for..... Longer you cook the daal on low flame, yummier it becomes!!

A twist to this daal makhani can be given by adding some kasuri methi (dried methi leaves) in the tadka, along with some sweet tomato ketchup, and you would have given a royal touch to your daal makhani..

Suggested Garnishing:

Garnish steaming hot daal makhani with a dollop of butter or thick cream with coriander, and enjoy it with hot jeera rice or rotis or naan (baked indian breads).