Authentic Indian cooking deliciously decoded: Dal Makhani (Buttery Black Lentils)

Make this flavorful, spicy vegetarian main dish in your slow cooker—you can start it in the morning, then return home to a heavenly fragrance and meal. Recipe below.

OUR WONDERFUL FRIEND ANUPY SINGLA IS A POWERHOUSE. Prolific blogger (over at Indian as Apple Pie), author of numerous cookbooks that make Indian food accessible for the American kitchen and entrepreneur with a bustling company offering delicious Indian ingredients to make the whole thing even easier.

We just admire her so much! Her blog is a generous, inspiring repository. If you want to explore new ways to prepare healthy and delicious food for you and your family, or you’re looking for sensible tips to improve your approach to food, or even if you’ve struggled to arrive at genuine Indian flavors, she is the source for you.

Anupy recently reissued a revised, updated edition of her first book, The Indian Slow Cooker, and this is among her most popular recipes. Dal Makhani, Buttery Black Lentils, is one of those classic Punjab dishes that you’ve certainly tried, and loved. The term dal refers both to lentils or other pulses and dishes made with them. We want to share Anupy’s version of this dal, which clearly explains the basics and uses the slow cooker to deliver a tasty dinner within the parameters of our busy workdays.

One thing to note, for cooks unfamiliar with Indian cooking, is that this recipe, like many Indian recipes, includes a finishing touch—the tarka, a last-minute fast sauté of additional spices and onion that you make and add in at the very end. Do this once and it will explain so much to you.

Anupy’s recipes are often vegan-friendly. This recipe classically includes butter and cream. If you are avoiding those products, she notes, you can substitute vegetable oil for the butter, and simply omit the cream. Those who are sensitive to spicy heat may want to adjust the heat of the fresh peppers by removing most or all of the seeds and ribs.

Our slow cooker happens to be a smaller one, so we cut her recipe exactly in half, and it worked out super well, making enough to feed four people along with rice or some naan. We did not have any black lentils in stock, so ultimately used regular brown lentils, and those worked out well too (but next week I am making this again with the classic, proper black lentils). We started this Monday morning when we got up—even the soaking part. We put everything in the slow cooker, closed the lid, and set the cooker on a timer, so it turned on at 9:30 AM and turned off at 6:30 PM, right when we were getting home. Then all we had to do was sauté the tarka—the work of five minutes—and we were ready for dinner.

PS: Anupy’s line of sauces and spices, Indian as Apple Pie, is widely available in the Chicago region at places like Whole Foods, and you can also order direct from her via her blog, Indian as Apple Pie. And no, we did not receive any products or bribes to say any of this. We just think she and her work are wonderful.

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Dal Makhani (Buttery Black Lentils)

Make this flavorful, spicy vegetarian main dish in your slow cooker—you can start it in the morning, then return home to a heavenly fragrance and meal. Adapted from The Indian Slow Cooker.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Servings 4

Ingredients

For the slow cooker part of the recipe:

• 1-1/4 cup dried black lentils
• 1/2 cup dried kidney beans
• Water for soaking, plus 6 cups water
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 1- inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 fresh Serrano chiles (see Kitchen Notes)
• ¼ cup unsalted tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds, ground
• 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 2 bay leaves

For the tarka:

• 1 tablespoon ghee or butter, or vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon hing (asafoetida) (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/8 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• the other half of the medium yellow onion, minced
• 1 fresh Serrano pepper, topped and minced (discard the seeds first if you want to hold down the spiciness)
• 1 tablespoon butter, optional
• 1/4 cup cream, optional

For serving:

• Basmati rice, naan or roti (optional)

Instructions

• Cook the lentils. First, rinse the black lentils and pick them over, discarding any debris and pebbles. Put the lentils and kidney beans in a bowl, cover with water, and let soak for an hour.
• Meanwhile, put the coarsely chopped onion, the garlic, ginger and fresh pepper in a blender or food processor (the small “Wildside jar” of our Blendtech blender was perfect for this job). Blend until smooth, then set aside in a small, covered container.
• In another little bowl, mix together the whole cumin seed, cumin powder, coriander powder, cayenne, salt, ground cardamom, fenugreek seeds and bay leaves, and set aside.
• Assemble the dal in the slow cooker. Drain and rinse the lentils and beans, then put them into the slow cooker. Add the wet and dry spices, the tomato paste and the 6 cups of water, stir well, then close up the pot and turn it on. Cook on high for 9 hours. Turn off the pot, fish out and discard the bay leaves.
• Make the tarka. In a small skillet, heat 1 tablespoon butter or oil to medium-high, then add the cumin seeds, fenugreek and hing. Cook until the cumin seeds start to pop—should be about 30-40 seconds. Immediately add the minced onion and the Serrano pepper, turn down the heat just a little, and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to brown—four or five minutes.
• Put it all together. Add all of the tarka to the pot of dal. Then if you like, stir in the butter and cream, and you’re ready to serve.
• We just had this on its wonderful, fragrant own, but you can serve it over basmati rice, or with naan or roti. And to drink? A nice saison or Belgian style ale or, if you prefer wine, a cold, unoaked Chardonnay.

Kitchen Notes

Dialing the heat up and down. This recipe calls for three Serrano peppers, which can bring the heat. You can control the amount of heat by removing some or all of the seeds and ribs in the peppers. For the slow cooker portion, I seeded one pepper and left the other whole. It was nicely spicy for us. For the tarka, I removed half the seeds. Adjust according to your own taste. If you add the butter and cream at the end, they will also help tame the heat. If, on the other hand, you want to bring the heat and zing, then use more peppers (with seeds) and fresh ginger.

What the heck is hing? Hing—or asafoetida—is a powerful spice that NPR called the secret weapon of Indian cuisine. When not cooked, it has quite a pungent aroma; it's usually sold and stored in an airtight container—ours came in a little jar inside a little heavyweight plastic ziplock bag. When cooked, hing "mellows to a more mild leek- and garlic-like flavor," as NPR says. You can find it in many Asian shops and online.