Hidden Facts About Dal Makhani

I believe everyone loves Dal Makhani. It is soul food for many. The dish was introduced to new locales by entrepreneurial Punjabi migrants like Kundan Lal Gujaral who opened the moti mahal restaurant in Darya ganj, Delhi, India.

 Dal makhani was first created by Sardar Singh. This was the specialty of Punjabis in Peshawar. When the Peshawaris came over after the Partition, they brought this dal with them. As many Peshawari Punjabis became restaurateurs, this was the dal they put on their menus. 

The secret to make  dal makhani without having to add too much butter is the number of hours you cook the lentils. Traditionally, the dals are simmered overnight in Tandoor enhancing the taste of the  dal. Some chef says it is only 50 per cent urad dal. The other 50 per cent is equally divided between rajma and chana dal.

Monish gujral (food writer) says it was even simpler. All Kundan Lal did was to take the black dal of his ancestors and to add his  makhani  sauce to it. After butter chicken came, his next invention was butter dal. Think about it: chicken makhani, dal makhani!  Obviously  the dishes were meant to be regarded as members of the same family.

Manjit zgill ITC’s corporate chef conceded that the modern dal makhani was invented by Moti Mahal.

For a start, the Moti Mahal recipe (as published in Monish’s Moti Mahal’s Tandoori Trail) is a mixture of dals. It is only 50 per cent urad dal. The other 50 per cent is equally divided between rajma and chana dal.

 Any chef will tell you that water is the key to good dal. But water varies from city to city and frequently, urban water is either over-chlorinated or, if you use your own filters, can taste slightly odd. ITC uses mineral water to standardize the taste of its Dal Bukhara at all its hotels.

                                                                                                            Dal Makhani Recipe