Dal makhani is creamy and buttery, rich and easy to make Indian dal recipe. Whole black lentils, kidney beans are cooked with few spices to make this slow-cooked dal recipe.
Pair this makhani dal with Naan, layered paratha or rice for a heavenly meal. Make it with my easy recipe, and I am sharing tips to make restaurant-style dal makhani at home.
An incredibly delicious dal makhani recipe that is easy enough to make for weeknight dinner and tasty and rich enough to serve for a weekend lunch. Dals and lentils make a significant part of Indian meals.
Punjabi cuisine is especially known for it's Dal recipes like Maa ki dal, maa chane ki dal, moong dal, Sabut masoor dal to name a few. Dal Makhani is one of the most loved one and mostly reserved for special occasions.
How To Make Restaurant Style Dal Makhani at Home
For making dal makhani whole urad dal or black lentils and kidney beans are pressure cooked with few spices. The pressure cooked dal is then further simmered with butter and cream to make this creamy dal makhani Punjabi style.
There are many recipes to cook dal makhani. But the best is slow-cooked dal makhani which is simmered for hours on wood. But with the modern lifestyle, it is not really possible to cook on wood so with time recipe has changed as well.
One thing that you should never compromise is slow cooking. Slow-cooked dal always tastes best and close to Authentic.
In this recipe, I have used a mix of pressure cooking and slow cooking to make amazingly delicious makhani dal recipe.
Dal makhani Recipe Ingredients
For preparing delicious slow-cooked Punjabi dal makhani you will need
Lentils: Black lentils / Whole Urad Dal, small red kidney beans
Fresh: ginger, garlic, tomatoes, coriander, chive
Spices & Seasonings: Salt, Kashmiri red chilli powder, red chilli powder, kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
Dairy: Butter, milk
You can find all these ingredients for dal makhani either online and supermarkets near you. If you live in America, Costco, trader joe and whole foods stock these. And lastly you can buy them in any Indian store.
Stepwise Method
Pressure Cook Black Lentils
Wash and rinse black lentils/kali dal and the kidney beans/rajma until the water runs out clean. Keep both the lentils and kidney beans in two separate bowls. Add water to them and allow them to soak them overnight for 6-8 hours.
After both the ingredients are well soaked, take them out and drain all the water using a mesh strainer. Discard the dirty water.
Now, take a pressure cooker and add black lentil and kidney beans in the cooker.
Add Bay Leaf, Mace, Cardamom, salt, red chilli and turmeric along with 4 cups of water.
Pressure cook it for 5-6 whistles, till lentils and kidney beans are tender. turn off the heat and allow it to cool naturally.
Now, proceed with making the Takda/tempering for the Dal.
Tadka for Dal Makhani
Take a big thick bottomed pan, heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in it and add ¼ chopped onion in it. Stir the onion and cook it until the onion changes its colour to translucent. We should keep the heat on medium so that it cooks evenly.
Now, add 1 teaspoon chopped ginger, garlic, 1 teaspoon coarsely ground coriander powder, a teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder and salt to taste. Mix all the spices well and cook them for 2 mins.
When the spices are cooked add fresh tomato puree to bring in the flavour and characteristic red color.
Let this cook to cook till ghee starts leaving the masala. that means all the ingredients are cooked.
Transfer the cooked lentils from pressure cooker into this pan for the slow cooking of dal.
Slow Cooking Of Dal
Mix all the ingredients well and gently simmer the dal for 10 mins on low heat.
After 10 mins take out the bay leaves from the dal and continue cooking. In sometime when lentils start to thicken add in 1 cup of milk in it for the creaminess we need. You can also add 2 tablespoons of cream if you like that. After you add the milk let the dal simmer for another 10 minutes.
After the 10 minutes your Dal Makhani is ready to be served so add in 2 tablespoons of butter to finish. Add 1 teaspoon of garam masala and a teaspoon of crushed Kasoori Methi.
Patience, we are almost there. Now, cook the Dal Makhani for another 3-4 minutes and tada!
Our luscious, creamy and buttery, slow-cooked restaurant style or dhaba style Dal Makhani is ready.
How to Serve Dal Makhani
You can serve this slow cooked buttery and creamy Dal makhani with Indian breads like Garlic Naan, Butter Naan, laccha Paratha or tandoori roti. Dal makhani with jeera rice is another great option.
Recipe Notes and Tips
- What I have learned through my years of experience is that the more we allow the dal to cook in the recipe, the better it tastes.
- Also one should always wash the dal or kidney beans till the water runs out clean.
- One day old dal makhani tastes the Best!
Dal Makhani Recipe Video
More Such Delicious Recipes you can Try
Healthier Dal Makhani Recipe
Instant Pot Dal Makhani
Langar wali Dal
Chana Masala
Rajma Masala
Whole Brown Lentils/ Sabut Masoor Dal
Dal Fry
📖 Recipe
restaurant style Dal Makhani Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 oo grams Urad Dal/black lentil
- 50 grams Kidney Beans/ Rajma
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 2 green cardamom
- 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 cup Milk
- 2 tablespoon Butter
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1 teaspoon Kasoori Methi
To Make Takda:
- 2 tablespoon Ghee
- ¼ chopped Onion
- 1 teaspoon chopped Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Ground Coriander Powder
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 Tomato Purry
Instructions
- Take 200 grams of Urad Dal/black lentil and 50 grams of Kidney beans and wash them separately with fresh water. Wash the lentils/dal and the kidney beans/rajma until the water runs out clean.
- Now, keep both the ingredients in two separate bowls. Add water to them and allow them to soak for 3-4 hours.
- After both the ingredients are well soaked, take them out and drain all the water using a mesh strainer. Discard the dirty water.
- Now, take a pressure cooker and add black lentil and kidney beans in the cooker. Add Bay Leaf, mace, Cardamom, salt, red chilli and turmeric with 4 cups of water. Pressure cook it for 5-6 whistles, turn off the heat and allow it to cool naturally.
- Now, proceed with making the Takda for the Dal Makhani.
For Takda
- Take a pan and add 2 tablespoon of ghee in it. When the ghee starts to smoke add ¼ chopped onion in it. Stir the onion and cook it until the onion changes its color to translucent. We should keep the heat on medium so that it cooks evenly.
- Now, add 1 teaspoon chopped ginger, 1 teaspoon coarsely ground coriander powder, a teaspoon kashmiri red chilli powder and salt to taste. Mix all the spices well and cook them for 2 mins.
- When the spices are cooked add fresh tomato puree in it. The tomato will bring flavor to the tadka.
- Now, let the tadka to cook. When you see that the ghee starts leaving the masala then it means that all the ingredients are cooked.
- You can open the pressure cooker and check if the dal is cooker or not.
For Dal Makhani
- When you see that the spices are cooked and the dal is too then take the dal (you can transfer it to a bowl first) and transfer it in the tadka pan.
- After that mix all the ingredients well and gently simmer the dal for 10 mins on low heat.
- After 10 mins take out the bay leaves from the dal and continue cooking. The reason we took out the bay leaves because all the flavor is mixed in the pan and we can take it out now.)
- Till now you could smell the aromatic flavor of the delicious Dal makhani so quickly add 1 cup of milk in it for the creaminess we need. After you add the milk let the dal simmer for another 10 minutes.
- After the 10 minutes your Dal Makhani is ready to be served so very quickly add the last ingredient that is butter in it and stir well until the golden goodness is mixed with our luscious Dal Makhani.
- Add 1 teaspoon of garam masala and a teaspoon of Kasoori Methi. Patience, we are almost there. Now, cook the Dal Makhani for another 3-4 minutes and tada! Your savoury mouth-watering delicious Dal Makhani is ready to be served.
- What I have learned through my years of experience is that the more we allow the dal to cook in the recipe, the better it tastes. Also one should always wash the dal or kidney beans till the water runs out clean. This way there will be no dirt left in the dal or kidney beans.
Sadhana says
Nice recipe and lunch combo was also good
aastha kapoor says
Foodies from around the world enjoy this lentil dish which is particularly popular in Punjab. Rekha Kakkar, everyone wishes for restaurant style food at home but few know how to go about preparing it. Thanks for sharing this post and helping aspirant chefs to try out this unique recipe at home.
Ammu says
Made this today.... turned out quite delicious... but the recipe description needs an update. Made the recipe without seeing the video and the quantity of water, when to put the bay leaf was not clear at all. The ingredient list also calls for Maize flour. Wasn't used either in the description nor in the video. Thanks!
Rekha Kakkar says
Glad you liked the recipe. Noted your points and corrected them. That is why I always advice to watch video because this gives better idea of the recipe flow. Sometimes in writing mistakes happen. But Thank you so much for pointing out it helps to improve.
Rashmi says
Really enjoyed the dal makhani... been looking for a good recipe for a while, and quite pleased with how this turned out ☺️