Dal Nawabi

On By MeghaIn Food

I am sure you’ve eaten Dal Makhni and must have even cooked it on a number of occasions. This recipe is quite similar to Dal Makhni but has a smoother texture and tastes superb at all times. It’s a perfect treat for all vegetarian food lovers, for though it is dal, but has it’s distinct rich flavour  to make it stand proud to prove its name of being a royal treat.

Dal Nawabi  :

Dal Nawabi

Difficulty Level: Easy

Serves : 4

Ingredients:

  • Split Black Urad Dal ( skin on) – 1 cup Or 70% of the mixture
  • Red Kidney beans (Rajma) – 1/3 cup Or 20% of the mixture
  • Split Chana Dal – 1/3 cup or 10% of the mixture
  • Tomatoes – 2 to 3, finely chopped
  • Onions – 2 medium-sized, finely chopped
  • Ginger – about 2 inches, finely chopped
  • Garlic – 4 to 5 cloves, crushed and chopped
  • Fresh coriander – half a bunch to one cup full finely chopped
  • Green Chili – 2 finely chopped
  • Red Chili Powder 1 tsp
  • Turmeric Powder – 3/4 tsp
  • Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
  • Salt – to taste
  • Butter around 60 grams
  • Oil – 1 tbsp (any oil you use to cook food in)

Method:

  • Soak the black Urad dal, Rajma and Chana dal overnight. Soaking them in hot water for three to four hours can help as well, but overnight soaking yields better results.
  • In a pressure cooker transfer the dal-rajma mixture, add around four cups of water. To this add salt and turmeric powder and one tablespoon of cooking oil.
  • Close the lid of the pressure cooker and let the dal mixture simmer on medium flame till around 5 to 6 whistles blow. (Do not cook on high flame, else the dal mixture won’t cook through).
  • Once the dals are cooked, place the cooker on medium flame and using the back of the round table-spoon mash the rajma and dals till you achieve a thick consistency dal with no individual ingredients visible.
  • Adjust the water to a consistency of your liking.
  • Add a generous dollop of butter to the dal while it is simmering.
  • Add half of the coriander leaves (around half a cup) finely chop them and add to the cooking dal.

For the Tadka:

  • Take the remaining butter in a pan, heat it. Now add cumin seeds, chopped onion, crushed garlic cloves, finely chopped ginger and let them saute till they start getting golden on their edges.
  • Now add chopped green chili, chopped tomatoes, chopped coriander leaves in the above and let them fry till tomatoes are tender.
  • Add one teaspoon of red chili powder and immediately add this tadka to the prepared dal.
  • Place the lid immediately to avoid the aroma from escaping.

Serving suggestion:

Serve hot with butter naan or buttered chapatis.

For more recipes from my kitchen, visit my food corner.

44 thoughts on “Dal Nawabi”

  1. Weekend sorted! Yayyyy 😀
    You are the bestest 😀

    I thought of writing a recipe as well, but I suck. Still working on it – will have it ready with pics for next weekend pakka 🙂

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  2. FIRSTtttttttttttttttttttttt 🙂 yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

    right let me say THANK YOU so much.. this is yummmyyyyyyyyy..

    I was waiting for the butter chicken to come up 🙂

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  5. I was about to mention butter naan would be a killer combo, but then later on saw that you already suggested that!
    ❤ it! 😀
    ME, you're webpage is getting wet 'coz I'm drooling!!! 😉 God I'm so hungry now!!!

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    1. Well not really. The white one will be too sticky to use and any other substitute dal will give totally different result 😦 😦
      But in that case, make mixed dal (of all the dals you have), using the same tadka and soak them around an hour before cooking it. That too turns out very nice. Don’t use Rajma in the mixed dal recipe.

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  11. That bowl tempts more than your chicken curry. I can’t survive without dal and this is certainly a royal version of humble dal. I have actually never cooked urad dal with skin on. I gotta give it a shot for sure. Mmmuah to you for posting recipes here.

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  15. Mouthwatering!! I am curious about the name though. Why is it called nawabi? Does it mean anything? Like was this dal made for the nawabs or anything in old ages?!
    The recipe does look easy, but I will have to start by grocery shopping for the black urad! 😀

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    1. Well, it’s actually part of the royal treats cooked along with other non-vegetarian delights, made rich by adding coriander while cooking for added aroma and flavor and lot of butter/ghee to add to the creamy texture.
      It is indeed very easy to make and tastes simply yum 😀

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      1. ME, one question – can I use whole black urad instead of split? Just realized that I don’t have the split ones, and have no time to rush to the shops either…

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        1. Yes, you can use Smitha, in fact at many places the whole black urad is used.
          The thing with the split one is it is easier to digest. In case your family is a regular eater of the whole black urad you can sure go ahead with that in the recipe 😀

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          1. You know, mid way, I realized that I did not have canned rajma either 😦 I had no time to soak rajma, and made it with just channa dal and urad dal – and it turned out delish! I will definitely be making this again – hopefully properly next time 🙂

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