For me, Dal Makhani is the best of the Indian legume soups. For many years I have been looking for the Dal Makhani recipe and the ingredients, after having tasted it in more than one restaurant.
Unfortunately, it absolutely requires a type of bean that is not so easy to find: black Indian beans or black moong beans, which are very tasty and when cooked take on a deliciously soft and almost gelatinous consistency. They are sold in some shops that deal with oriental foods under the name of urad dal or black gram.
They exist whole, peeled and split, or just split. The type needed here are the whole ones, but I think that if you use the only broken ones it would not change much. Even if they have the same name, distinguishing them is easy. The peeled version is white, the whole one is black and shiny and the broken one is like the whole one but broken. Take a look at the photo before the ingredients.
Let's start by saying that there are those who swear that the recipe is better without any spices at all. I've never tried it, but if you want, leaving them all out is an option. Apart from the fenugreek and paprika, what is used in dal makhani is actually nothing more than a whole version of the famous mixed garam masala.
If you can't find the whole spices, don't want to buy them all or don't like having to remove them from the finished soup, you can easily get ready-made and ground garam masala, which can also be found in some supermarkets, and add a spoonful or two together with the fresh chili peppers.
When in doubt, use only a small amount. It is designed specifically to be added to dishes at the end and can be adjusted at the last minute to your taste. Fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) have only recently appeared in specialized shops. Their flavor is absolutely identical to that of the seeds. It is an optional ingredient in any case, but if you want you can replace them with half a teaspoon of toasted fenugreek seeds ground a few minutes before the end of cooking.
If you can find them, smoked paprika is used to give a touch of smokiness without too many complications. You can replace it with common paprika (sweet or strong to taste) and, of your choice: a couple of teaspoons of liquid smoke, smoked salt, smoked chilies or, more traditionally, with the dhungar method, which is also used in many other cases and which you can try if you like.
Get a piece of charcoal a few centimeters in size. Since they normally sell them in bags of several kilos, if you don't have a barbecue I think the most practical thing to do would be to buy a tube of charcoal used for incense. In any case, light the charcoal on the fire and transfer it with tongs or some other suitable tool into a small metal container. At worst, a ladle can be fine. Turn off the heat to stop the soup from boiling and to avoid the risk of the charcoal spilling. Pour about half a teaspoon of ghee on the charcoal, which will start to smoke a lot internally. Place the container with the charcoal floating on top of the soup and cover. The smoking should last no more than two minutes. Remove the charcoal from the pot and turn it off in the sink. Stir the soup.
Here is a recipe of the Dal Makhani
Ingredients:
1 cup whole black gram
2 tsp split bengal gram
1 tbsp red kidney beans (Rajma)
1 onion finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 tsp ginger paste
2 green chilies, finely chopped
2 dry red chillies
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cloves
3 cardamoms
1 tsp garlic paste
1 cup curd
1 cup cream
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
3 tsp clarified butter (ghee)
5 cups Water
Salt to taste
Method:
Soak kidney beans, black gram and split bengal gram together in water overnight.
Drain out all water from the pulses and add six cups of fresh water and little salt and pressure cook kidney beans and daal till soft for about 20 minutes. Mash and boil again for 15 minutes and add curd, ghee and cream to the daal.
Heat oil, splutter cumin seeds and add garlic paste, cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms and fry till light brown. Add onions and fry till golden brown. Now add ginger, green chilies, dry red chillies and tomatoes and fry till tomatoes soften. Now add turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt and fry again for a moment.
Add daal and little water and stir on medium flame. As soon as it starts boiling remove from the heat.
Garnish daal makhni with coriander and add butter. Serve daal makhni hot. Goes well with laccha paratha, naan or rice.
Have a nice week ahead.
thanks