Dish · indian
Dal Makhani
Whole black lentils and kidney beans simmered for hours with butter, cream, and tomato until the beans nearly dissolve into the sauce. Dense and rich rather than thin like most dals.
Where it comes from
The dish is associated with Punjab and was refined at Delhi's Moti Mahal restaurant after Partition, where it's said cooks would let leftover lentils simmer slowly overnight over low embers. That long cook is what breaks the beans down into the dish's texture.
What cooks argue about
Cooks argue over an overnight slow simmer, which builds a deeper, creamier texture through time, against a pressure cooker shortcut that gets the beans soft in under an hour but skips that breakdown.
Versions
Nobody has published a dal makhani here yet. When somebody cooks one from a video and publishes it, their version appears in this list, with a link back to the original.
What goes in it
Each one opens everything else made with it.
urad dal
kidney beans
butter
heavy cream