Dal Makhani - Creamy Soup of Lentils / Lentils Soup

We had a Potluck on Saturday night with a full course of North Indian Menu starting from chat...I made Dal Makhani as one of the side dishes..This time I made it with Rajma ( Dark Red Beans ), Kali Masoor Dal ( Black Lentils ), Red Chori ( Red karamani ) not with black urad dal. This brownish bowl of lentil soup fills the stomach of the family greatly and fills my heart with great satisfaction as it contains high amount of protein, folate,vitamins, energy ,etc. Its great for parties as its very easier to prepare this Dal Makhani and the process is also quicker. Did not add the fresh cream at the end as we liked to taste the Makhani with its mild spicyness..

Ingredients

Red Beans ( Rajma ) - 1/2 Cup

Red Chori ( Red Karamani ) - 3/4 Cup

Kala Masoor ( Black Lentils ) - 3/4 Cup

Jeera - 2 tsp

Cloves / Lavang - 4 or 5

Cinnamon Sticks / Pattai - 3 Medium Size

Olive Oil - 1 tbsp

Onion - 1 Medium

Ripe Tomato - 1 Big

Green Chilli - 1 Medium

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 2 tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1 tbsp

Coriander Powder - 1 tbsp

Red Chilli Powder -  0.5 tbsp

Salt - To Taste

Sugar - 1 Pinch

Coriander Leaves - To Garnish

Method

1. Wash the Red Beans ( Rajma ), Kala Masoor, Red Chori ( Karamani ) first thoroughly and soak it in water for 3 - 4 hours.
2. After its soaked, pressure cook the Lentils with 1 tsp of turmeric powder, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tsp of salt for 4-5 whistles.
3. Meantime, cut the tomato, onion,green chilli into desired shapes, keep the other ingredients ready on the side.
4. On a thick bottomed kadai, add Olive Oil first for tempering. When its heated, add the jeera, cinnamon stick, cloves first. Then, add the finely cut onion, green chilli pieces and fry them for a minute.
5. Add ginger garlic paste next to the mix and fry till the raw smell goes off.
6. Add the tomato pieces next to the mix and fry them till they all get mashed and pasty.
7. Then, add all the powders as mentioned above and fry them nicely till all the powders get mixed with the tomato paste and fried little bit.
8. Add a pinch of sugar and pour the cooked dal from the pressure cooker directly onto the kadai with the remaining cooked water in the pressure cooker.
9. Add required amount of salt into the kadai and mix all the contents well. Allow them to cook for 4-5 minutes for the Makhani to get settled with all the powders and flavours.
10. After its cooked, switch off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves. It can be well served with a combination of Ghee rice, Jeera Rice, Peas Pulao or with plain chappathi / rotis.

Tips

Soak the Lentils for more time if they are too dry and cook them very well to get a creamy texture of the Dal Makhani.

Add few tsp of ghee or melted butter at the end if its made for a potluck or a party.

Variations

You can add fresh cream at the end on top of the Dal Makhani.

You can add or reduce red chilli powder to fine tune the spicyness of the Makhani.

You can substitute different lentils like Black Urad Dal in this dish with the ones I used.