If there’s one thing India is known for, it’s mouth-watering cuisine. From delectable bites of soft naan to the cream-soaked dal makhani, there’s plenty you could drool over!
Dal is essentially a staple in every Indian restaurant, which goes along with Indian bread like butter naan, tandoori roti, and even rice. One of many kinds of Dal Makhani is Dal Makhani Oberoi Style.
Want to know how this delicious dish is prepared?
Dive in to know more!
Oberoi Style Dal Makhani
It is believed that Oberoi Style Dal Makhani was invented by Kundan Lal, who owned a chain of restaurants in India. This dish is made up of Black whole Urad dal (black gram). The factor that makes dal makhani different from other dishes is the inclusion of mixed cream and tomatoes as a souring agent.
Unlike many western dishes that can be prepared quite quickly, the key to achieving the best flavor in dal makhani is slow cooking.
Another similar invention by the same inventor is butter chicken. This, along with dishes like Amritsari dal makhani and Peshawari dal makhani are quite famous all over the world.
Oberoi Dal Makhani Recipe
Recipe at a glance
| Prep time | 2.5 hours |
| Serves | 3-6 people depending on the ingredients |
| Nutritional info | 1 cup contains: 330 calories, 19g fat, 44mg cholesterol, 31g carbohydrates, Protein: 13.2g |
| Best served with | Butter naan, bread, and jeera rice |
Ingredients required
Dal
- 100-150 grams of whole black lentils
- 50-gram chickpeas (can also be substituted with garbanzo beans)
- 50 grams red kidney beans
- 20-30g ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- Garlic cloves (optional)
- 6-7 cups water
- Salt to taste
Tadka
- 50-gram ghee/Vegetable oil
- 4 tablespoons Butter
- 1 tspn fenugreek seed
- 1/2 tspn cumin seeds
- Ginger garlic paste (40g)
- Ginger paste (20g)
- Asafoetida powder
- Fresh tomato paste
- Hot charcoal (optional)
Garnishing
- Half a cup cream
- Red chilli powder
- 100-gram butter
- One lemon
Preparation
- To make dal makhani Oberoi style, start by taking whole black lentils, kidney beans, and chickpeas and pouring them in a bowl of water. Now, add 4 cups of water so as to soak them fully and start to gently rub the lentils using both your hands. By doing this, you can make sure that there aren’t any kind of impurities on the surface. Doing this also helps prohibit the dish from developing a cloudy texture later on. Repeat this process at least 3-4 times for best results.
Note: Be sure to change the water every time you wash the batch so that any impurities don’t cling back onto the surface.
- Now separate the clean dal by pouring out all the remaining water in the bowl and transferring it to a new bowl. Ideally, you should soak this mixture in clean water at room temperature for 6-12 hours (preferably overnight) to get a soft composition.
- Now take any boiling container or an electric boiler/pressure cooker and pour the kidney beans and urad lentils inside. Add lots of water and boil lentils over medium heat for at least an hour. In this case, we have 150 grams of dal, so we add 1 liter of water in order to boil it.
- Keep boiling the mixture along with gently filtering out all the impurities which rise up in the form of foam. Do not stir the dal just yet and let it boil uninterrupted.
Pro tip: Never add salt into the water before you have already boiled your dal. This causes hardening of the surface leading to a stiff and bitter aftertaste.
- Add some salt to your boiler after an hour has passed and mix it well. Then, take a hand masher and press down the surface of whatever utensils you are using. Do not stir but only add some force downwards. You need to mash the mixture for at least 20 minutes before adding butter.
- After a while, you should start to see the signature reddish-brown color of dal makhani develop within the boiler. It’s now time to get the ‘tadka’ going. To do this, take a frying pan and add some ghee/ cooking oil into it.
- Next, mix 1 tbsp red chilli powder with 3 tbsp water. Once the frying pan is heated sufficiently, add 40 grams of ginger garlic paste and 20 grams of ginger paste onto it, followed by cooking it over low heat till it begins to appear slightly golden in color. Then, add half a tablespoon of salt and sauté the garlic paste.
Pro tip: The amount of tomato purée and butter you will need is always exactly half the volume of dal you have taken, which in our case is 150 grams.
- Now, add the red chilli powder paste you prepared with water along with some tomato purée in the frying pan. Next up, add some cream into the dal that is being boiled along with the remaining butter and fenugreek seed.
- It’s now time to add the tadka you prepared into the cooked dal. Simmer gently for 20 minutes and add some seasonings on top. In case you want a slightly tangy flavor, you can put a few drops of the lemon extract on top.
- Top your dish with some cream on top. Voila! You have an amazing dish to feast on!
Another dish similar to Dal Makhani Oberoi style: Dal Bukhara
Quite similar to Dal Makhani Oberoi style, Dal Bukhara is a creamy and slow-cooked whole black gram dal mixed with butter and tomato purée. The ingredient that differentiates it from Dal Makhani is kidney beans.
Some other variations of this dish are dal makhani kerala style and peshawari dal makhani.
If you are looking for which doesn’t take as long to prepare, here’s an article which tells you how to make paneer in instant pot.
Is dal makhani good for weight loss?
This simple recipe does not only aid in weight loss but also benefits people with diabetes and heart patients. This is due to the high phosphorus concentration in split urad. However, if you want to mimic the restaurant-style taste, then you will definitely need to add some cream.
What to serve with dal makhani?
Given that dal makhani Oberoi style is one of the favorite recipes of most Indian food lovers out there, there is a wide variety of things you can pair it with. Dal makhani garnished with butter is best served with plain basmati rice, butter naan, and Indian tandoori roti.
What is dal makhani cooking time?
The cooking time of dal makhani varies anywhere between 1 to 3 hours depending on how long you mash the lentils and beans, followed by boiling the resulting mixture. Learn how to make Dal Makhani in an instant pot without soaking overnight here.
