Serves 5 - 6
Dal Makhani originates from Punjab and literally translates to “creamy lentils” Dal Makhani is usually indulgent, featuring butter and cream but it has humble origins, as the dish was actually created in communal kitchens in refugee camps during the Partition of India and Pakistan.
People had to mix different pulses together depending on what was available. However, dal makhani is now iconically made with urad dal (black lentils) and red kidney beans.
Of course, my recipe is whole food plant based without the use of oil but we achieve a similar creaminess using silken tofu and cashews.
This dish serves 6 people and has less than half the calories and saturated fat of a standard Dal Makhani. However, if you are avoiding soya or nuts, you can add some plant milk or yoghurt instead to achieve some creaminess and the dish will still be delicious. The Kashmiri chilli powder gives the dish it’s authentic colour with only a mild heat but if you are cooking for kids, you can add the chilli in after.
Using an instapot means you don’t have to watch over the lentils and cuts down the cooking time considerably. However, if you don’t have a instapot or a pressure cooker, it’s ideal to soak the urad dal overnight and boil the urad dal in a large casserole dish the next day.
Ingredients
Whole Spices:
1 tsp cumin seeds
10 black peppercorns
Ground Spices:
1/8th tsp asafoetida
1 tsp ground cumin powder
1 tsp ground coriander powder
½ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
3 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder or to taste, 3 tsp dal makhani masala or to taste (optional)
Other Ingredients:
1 cup urad dal
1 tin of red kidney beans (240 grams drained and rinsed)
11 frozen garlic and ginger cubes (or 10 large cloves of fresh garlic crushed, and 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger peeled and grated finely)
80 grams of cashews
300g pack of silken tofu
1 pitted date
3 tablespoons lime or lemon juice
1 tbsp tomato paste
6 green chillies chopped finely or 6 dry red chillies
400g chopped tinned tomatoes (use the best variety you can find)
Salt to taste
Method
Rinse the urad dal with cold water in a bowl and cover with cold water until completely submerged and leave to soak for 3 hours.
Put the cashews and date in a small bowl and cover with boiling water until the are submerged. Leave these to soak for at least 10 minutes.
After the 3 hours have passed, drain away the water from the urad dal, and rinse once more with cold water to get rid of any debris.
Place the urad dal into the inner pot of your instapot as well as the red kidney beans and cover with 4.5 cups of boiling water (this will reduce the cooking time).
Add 1 teaspoon of salt and stir (optional) and close the lid of the instapot.
urn on the instapot and set to pressure cook mode for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile heat a large casserole dish on your stove and when hot add the cumin seeds and black peppercorns and dried red chilli if using and dry roast for 1 minute. Make sure to stir these continuously to prevent them from burning.
Add the ginger and garlic cubes and cook them for a few minutes until they fully defrost (add splashes of water and stir with a wooden spoon to prevent the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan) or cook the fresh garlic, ginger and green chilli for 1 minute.
Once the ginger and garlic cubes have defrosted, add the green chilli, asafoetida, chilli powder, turmeric, black pepper, cumin and coriander powder and stir the mixture for 1 minute (adding splashes of water again to prevent sticking).
Add the tinned tomatoes and tomato paste and give the mixture a stir before cooking on low heat for 10 minutes.
Once the urad dal is cooked in the instapot, allow a natural pressure release for 10 minutes before carefully removing the lid.
Carefully transfer the contents of the instapot into the casserole dish with the tomato mixture and spices using some protective oven gloves.
Turn the heat off the casserole dish and gently and carefully mash the mixture for a few minutes with a potato masher (being careful not to burn yourself and using oven gloves to protect your hands).
Gently crush the fenugreek leaves with the palms of your hands into a small bowl and add to the casserole dish. Stir the mixture, put the lid on the casserole dish and allow to cook on medium heat for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile to a blender add the silken tofu, lime or lemon juice and the soaked and drained date and cashews with 2 tablespoons of water and blend until it forms a smooth paste (Add more water if needed to blend to an even consistency).
Add the mixture from the blender to the casserole dish and stir and allow to cook for 5 minutes covered.
Uncover and season the dish according to taste with salt and garam masala and extra chilli powder if required (you can take out kids portions before adding garam masala and chilli powder if needed).
The dal will thicken on standing but if the dal is too watery, allow it to cook for longer as the longer it cooks, it will get creamier.
Serve the dal with roti, naan or rice.
Stovetop Instructions for Cooking the Lentils (If You Don’t Have an Instant Pot)
Soak the urad dal overnight (at least 8 hours) in plenty of water to help soften the lentils and reduce cooking time.
Drain and rinse the soaked urad dal with fresh water.
In a large casserole dish or deep pot, add the urad dal and 4.5 cups of fresh water. Bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 60–90 minutes, or until the lentils are very soft and creamy. Stir occasionally and add more water if needed to prevent sticking.
In a separate small saucepan, heat and prepare the spice and tomato mixture as per the main recipe (Steps 7–10).
Nutritional Information: When serving 6 people, each serving contains 427 calories, 19.1 grams of protein, 52.7 grams of carbohydrates and 10.9 grams of fat but with only 1.7 grams of saturated fat.
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