Easy Dal Makhani | Dal Makhni | How To Make Dal Makhani

Dal Makhani is a popular classic recipe from Indian cuisine prepared using black urad dal (black lentils), rajma (kidney beans), and some aromatic spices.

Makhani dal can be served with Indian bread like naan, roti,  chapatis, and ghee rice or brown butter rice.

Dal or lentil is an essential component in Indian cuisine. As we mostly prepare South Indian Konkani recipes at home, split pigeon peas are used to prepare dal. That is, we use toor dal or arhar dal daily to make sambar, dalithoy, dal khichdi, dal fry, etc.

Dal means lentil, and Makhan means butter. Basically, Dal Makhani is a buttery, creamy dal or Indian lentil curry. For those new to Indian cooking, you may find the ingredient list lengthy. But these are some of the essential Indian spices that we use in our day-to-day cooking.

Which dal is used to make dal makhani?

Traditionally, sabut urad dal, i.e., black gram with skin/husk, is used to prepare dal makhani. A small amount of rajma (kidney beans) is also added most of the time. In the recipe below, I have used split urad dal with skin. You can read more about different types of Indian dal or Indian lentils here. This post has been helpful to many readers.

Ingredients For Easy Dal Makhani | Dal Makhni | How To Make Dal Makhani

¼ cup Rajma or Kidney beans
1 ½ cups Black sabut urad dal or split urad dal with skin
4 to 5 cups Water

Ingredients for chopping

2 Onions
1 inch Ginger, finely chopped
6 to 8 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 to 4 Green chilies, slit or chopped
6 to 8 strands Coriander leaves or cilantro chopped
3 Tomatoes, roughly chopped

Other Ingredients used

2 tablespoon Oil or Butter
1 teaspoon Cumin seeds or Jeera
2 Green cardamom or Elaichi
2 Cloves or Laung
1 Bay leaf or Tej Patta
1 to 1 ½ teaspoon Red chile powder
½ to 1 teaspoon Garam masala powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 to 2 teaspoon Kasuri Methi or Dried fenugreek leaves
¼ to ⅓ cup Heavy cream

How to make the best & easy dal makhani at home?

Cooking dal

In a bowl, wash and soak rajma (kidney beans) overnight. If you are using sabut urad dal, you can wash and soak this in water overnight.

Next morning drain the water. In the pressure cooker, add soaked kidney beans and urad dal with 4 to 5 cups of water and pressure cook for 4 to 5 whistles—one on high flame and rest all on medium flame. Switch off the flame and let the pressure release naturally. Check out the video here.

Making of dal makhani

In a blender or mixer, add chopped tomatoes and blend to a smooth puree. Keep this aside.

In a pan on medium flame, add oil or butter or both. Once hot, add cumin seeds, cardamom pods, cloves, and bay leaf, and saute for a few seconds. To this, add onions and saute until translucent.

Add ginger, garlic, and green chile, and saute for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

To this, add tomato puree, cooked dal, one cup of water, red chile powder, garam masala powder, and salt, and mix well. Bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes on medium-low flame. Keep stirring to avoid it from burning from the bottom.

Now add kasuri methi, heavy cream, and mix. Simmer it for another 5 minutes or until it becomes creamy and thick. You can check out the making of dal makhani here. 

Easy dal makhani is now ready. Garnish it with more heavy cream, and ginger juliennes, and serve with naan, roti, chapatis, ghee rice or brown butter rice, and enjoy.

Tips and substitutions

• Adjust the spices to taste. You can skip dried fenugreek leaves if you can't find them.
• You can either add whole garam masala spices or garam masala powder, or both. Adjust to taste
• If you cannot find black urad dal, you can also use urad dal (split/whole without skin) OR red lentils (masoor dal) OR moong dal.
• I have used heavy cream. You can use half and half or thick whole milk in the recipe.
• Tomatoes can be replaced with canned tomato puree. Using canned tomato puree will enhance the taste too.
• Traditionally sabut or whole urad dal is used. I have used split ones as it was available in my pantry today 🙂
• If you do not have rajma or kidney beans, you can skip them. Canned kidney beans can also be used in the recipe.
• The consistency of dal makhani is neither too thick nor thin. 
• Add more cream for additional richness.
• You can increase the amount of butter up to 4 tablespoon if needed.
• Dal should be cooked properly. That is, when you press the cooked dal between your fingers, you should be able to mash it easily.

Can we cook lentils in a pot or pan?

I love the pressure cooker method as this is one of the fastest ways of cooking dal or lentils.

You can also cook dal/lentils in a pan or pot on the stovetop. The only thing is it will take thrice the amount of time to cook dal on a stovetop than it takes on the pressure cooker.

Can I make dal makhani without using onion or garlic?

Yes. Skip the onion and garlic, follow the same recipe and add a pinch of asafoetida or hing along with garam masala and chile powder.

How to store leftover dal makhani?

Dal makhani can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days and used as and when required.

Restaurant and Dhaba style smoky flavored dal makhani

In a restaurant or dhaba, you generally get a smoky flavor when eating dal. The smokiness comes from slow cooking and the simmering of dal on charcoal or wooden fire for a long time.

At home, you can get that smoky flavor by using dhungar (infusing the smoky flavor of burnt charcoal) or by simply adding smoked paprika. I am generally happy with this easy recipe, and it tastes great. Therefore, I skip this dhungar method, but you can try it if interested.

Instant pot dal Makhani

Follow the same steps for soaking dal/lentil and making tomato puree as given above.

Turn on the saute mode of your instant pot. Add butter or oil, cumin seeds, cardamom pods, cloves, bay leaf, and saute for a few seconds.

Add onions and saute until translucent. To this, add ginger, garlic, green chile and saute for a few more seconds.

Add the tomato puree, soaked and drained lentils & rajma, red chile powder, garam masala powder, salt, and 4 cups of water. Cancel the SAUTE mode. Cover the instant pot with a lid.

Pressure cook on HIGH for 30 minutes and then do a natural release.

Open the lid, and check for consistency. If the dal is too thick, add water.

Turn on the SAUTE mode and simmer until heated through. Keep stirring so that lentils or dal don't stick to the bottom.

Finally, add cream and kasuri methi and simmer for another 3 to 5 minutes.

Video recipe

Video recipe for Easy Dal Makhani | Makhni Dal

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Detailed recipe for Indian Lentil Curry | Easy & Best Dal Makhani

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