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Hearing the name of Dal Makhani brings to mind creamy gravy, soft urad dal and butter floating on top. This popular Punjabi dish can be made very tasty at home also. However, the biggest question while making Dal Makhani is how much butter and cream should be added to it.

If you think that adding more butter will automatically make Dal Makhani taste like restaurant food, then it is not so. Its taste comes from melting the lentils and kidney beans properly, frying the tomato masala properly and then cooking it on low flame with butter-cream. About 30 grams i.e. 2 tablespoons butter is enough for four people. Along with this, about half a cup of fresh cream gives an excellent creamy texture to the dal.

These ingredients are needed for 4 people

For dal, take 1 cup whole urad dal and about 1/4 cup rajma. Apart from this, 1 medium onion, 25 grams ginger, 2 green chillies, 2 big cardamoms, 2 bay leaves and salt as per taste are required.

To prepare tomato masala, take about 500 grams ripe tomatoes, 2 tablespoons ghee or oil, half teaspoon cumin, a pinch of asafoetida, 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste, 1 teaspoon red chili powder, 1 teaspoon garam masala and salt.

Finally, use 30 grams butter, 3-4 cloves chopped garlic, 1 teaspoon Kasuri methi, 1/4 teaspoon garam masala and half cup fresh cream.

Soak urad dal and rajma overnight

To get good texture of Dal Makhani, it is important to soak urad dal and rajma for sufficient time. Clean both and soak them in water for at least 8 hours or overnight.

The next day, drain the water and wash the lentils and kidney beans thoroughly. Put them in a pressure cooker with about 1200 ml water. Add big cardamom, bay leaves, salt, finely chopped onion, ginger and green chillies in it.

Now cook the dal on medium to low flame until the urad and rajma become completely soft. This may take about 30-35 minutes. The dal should be so soft that it can be easily pressed with a spoon.

It is important to fry the tomato masala well.

Now heat 2 tablespoons of ghee or oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add cumin and asafoetida in it. After the cumin seeds crackle, add ginger-garlic paste and fry, so that its raw smell goes away.

After this add red chilli powder and garam masala and fry for about 30 seconds. Now add crushed tomatoes and salt to it.

Cooking tomatoes on low flame is an important part of this recipe. Cook it until the excess water dries up and oil starts appearing on the edges of the masala. The better the spices are roasted, the better will be the taste of the dal.

Cook the dal with spices on low flame

Now add the prepared tomato masala to the cooked urad dal and rajma. Let it cook on low flame for at least 30-45 minutes.

Keep stirring the dal occasionally, so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. If the dal becomes too thick then you can add some water as per requirement.

The texture of proper dal makhani should neither be too thin nor so thick that it becomes difficult to stir.

30 grams of butter is enough for 4 people

Now comes the most special step of Dal Makhani. About 30 grams of butter i.e. 2 tablespoons is enough for four people.

Melt butter in a small pan. Add chopped garlic to it and fry until it becomes light golden. After turning off the gas, add Kasoori Methi and some garam masala.

Now add the prepared garlic-butter to the dal and mix well. After this, cook the dal for some more time on low flame, so that the flavor of butter and garlic gets mixed well in the entire dal.

add cream at the end

After turning off the gas, add about half a cup of fresh cream and mix well. There is no need to cook the dal on high flame after adding cream.

While serving, you can add some fresh cream, Kasoori Methi and if you want, some butter on top. Serve hot dal makhani with naan, roti or basmati rice.

Remember: restaurant taste doesn't just come from more butter. Well-melted dal-rajma, cooking on low flame for a long time, roasting the tomato masala properly and adding balanced amount of butter-cream at the end makes Dal Makhani tasty and creamy.