Restaurant Style Dal Makhani

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. Jump to:How To Make Restaurant Style Dal Makhani at HomeDal makhani Recipe IngredientsStepwise MethodHow to Serve Dal MakhaniRecipe Notes and TipsDal Makhani Recipe VideoMore Such Delicious Recipes you can Try📖 Recipe

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

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📖 Recipe