My husband and I have made many different types of dal over the years, that were all great, but we will be making this dal makhani for now on. It's absolutely delicious!!! In fact my husband loved it so much he had leftover dal and brown rice for breakfast this morning, lol!
I did make some minor changes to the recipe. Instead of 2 Tbsp salt, I only added 1 tsp of salt and it was plenty enough, I may consider adding even less the next time I make it. Also, in place of the butter and heavy cream, I used 2 Tbsp trans-fat free margarine and fat-free half and half. And lastly, SOGOLONDJATA is right, fenugreek leaves are close to impossible to find state side. I added 1 Tbsp fenugreek seeds in place of the leaves; the flavor is much more intense in the seeds, but they are much easier to find in an Indian spice market.
Be sure to remove the bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon (I left it whole; its easier to fetch out) and black cardamom before eating, especially if your serving to children. Another thought ~ after toasting the spices, it would be fairly easy to wrap them in cheese cloth.
Thank you so very much for posting this recipe.
I have to agree with cengelberg the recipe shown is far too salty. I made the recipe for 6 people and it called for 2 tablespoons of salt but change that to 2 teaspoons and you'll be fine. I also used canned kidney beans instead of dry so if you go my way be sure to drain the excess water after cooking the lentils and beans or you'll end up with dal makhani soup.
I think the recipe would have turned out great if much less salt was used. I adjusted the recipe for 16 people and it called for 1/3 cup salt. It was extremely salty. Tried to reduce salt by adding potatoes with minimal results. I would recommend at least halving the salt content and work up from there.
I also cut the salt - 2tsp works great. I have most of these spices in my cupboard, but I was missing a few - didn't matter. I also used ghee instead of butter, which is the magic answer for me. Get it at Indian grocers, Trader Joe's, or make some clarified butter yourself. It's worth it. Very rich and warm - and delicious with basmati rice. Note: I removed the bay leaves before eating.
Warning to anyone who wants to try this recipe: use 2 TEASPOONS salt - or even less and add as needed. The dish smelled and looked amazing and was absolutely delicious except for the extreme saltiness. Unfortunately I couldn't fix the doubled recipe and decided to dump the entire thing out. Will definitely try again some time soon with MUCH less salt - and will probably use kosher instead or regular salt. I had read the previous reviews and reduced the amount of salt but didn't realize by how much I should have reduced it by. I'm sure my next attempt will turn out great!!!
My girlfriend made this for dinner after a long day and mistakenly followed the recipe which calls for 2 tablespoons of salt. This recipe should be corrected or taken down. Recipes like this are why I refer to this site as the craigslist list of cooking. I blame this site, and it's users (Yeah I am talkin' to you AL, who gave this recipe 5 stars). If this site functioned properly it would allow users to moderate recipes so this type of error wouldn't occur.
This dal makhani is awesome!!! Of course, the salt in the recipe was just an oversight. I used about 1 teaspoon and didn't miss it at all. I didn't have any kidney beans, so I just used a few more lentils. Also, I took note of another reviewer and added in one diced yellow onion that I browned and cooked with the cumin seeds.
Overall, I have a feeling that this will be a weekly favorite in my household. It's very easy with tons of dynamic flavor. Thanks for the new family favorite!
While it isnt the best indian recipe its by far the worlds best lentil recipe but I didnt use much salt.
This recipe was tried by my family during Phase 1 of South Beach. We did not use any of the optional ingredients and omitted the butter. We did add some butter flavor. We salt our meals at the table so I cannot remember how much salt we added. This is authentic Indian food with the raw form of spices. Chew carefully to keep from biting a clove etc.
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