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Lots more Dals, Bean/Lentil Stews here
Black gram/ Urad Whole (Black Matpe Bean)
Black gram is different than black lentils. Black gram looks like a black mung bean, fat and cylindrical, while black lentils(beluga) are black colored flat lentils. You can use black lentils or other lentils in this recipe if you don’t have black gram. I have only seen it in Indian stores and online, so it can be difficult to come by.
Red Kidney Beans
Whole Urad lentils, Vigna mungo, black gram or black lentil are these pretty lentils which look like black Mung beans. The beans are available as whole or split or split+skinned like most whole lentils in India.
Urad lentils are also extensively used in South Indian culinary preparations, such as dosa crepes, idli – steamed lentil cakes, vada – savory doughnuts, and Papad/Papadum (Ground into flour or soaked and fermented etc).
Step by step photos:
Tempering/Tadka Ingredients.
Heat oil. Add cumin seeds and cook until fragrant.
Add garlic, ginger, chili and cook until golden.
Add onions and cook until translucent.
Add tomatoes, asafetida, garam masala and cook until tomatoes are tender.
Add tempering to cooked beans. Add milks, mix well.
Cook until the beans are mushy.
Serve hot topped with a dollop of vegan butter or olive oil. The pictured Dal is cooked in a pressure cooker that breaks the beans down really well. If using slow cooker or crockpot to cook the dal, mash some of the dal with a spatula.
Vegan Dal Makhani - Black lentils and Beans in creamy buttery gravy
Ingredients
For the Lentils:
- 1 cup whole black gram, , Urad Whole or use black lentils(see first paragraph for sub options)
- 1/2 cup kidney beans, , Rajma
- 3.5 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder, or cayenne or to taste
For the Tempering:
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2-3 green chilis finely chopped, I use Serrano chili pepper
- 1 inch ginger, finely chopped
- 5-6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 medium size onion, chopped
- 1/8 teaspoon asafoetida, hing
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 medium size tomatoes, chopped
- 1 teaspoon garam masala, regular or punjabi
- 1 Tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves, Kasoori methi, or Use a 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek/methi seeds-Optional
- 2 Tablespoons Almond milk
- 1/3 cup Cashew milk, Blend 3 tbsp cashews in 1/3 cup water until smooth.
- Vegan butter such as Earth Balance as needed
Instructions
- Soak the lentils and beans overnight.
- Pressure cook black gram and Kidney beans in 3.5 cups of water with salt and chili powder for 3-4 whistles (25 minutes at high pressure once pressure has reached).
- Or use a slow cooker to cook urad beans and keep ready. Kidney beans cannot be cooked in a slow cooker from raw state, so use 1 cup cooked canned beans.
- In a large pan, add oil and heat on medium-high heat.
- Add cumin seeds and cook till they start to change color.
- Add ginger, garlic and green chili and saute until golden.
- Add onion, asafetida and cook until translucent.
- Add the tomato and turmeric and cook until tomatoes are mushy. (13-15 minutes till this step).
- Add the cooked black gram, kidney beans and the water they were cooked in.
- Add garam masala, fenugreek and the milks. Mix, taste and adjust salt.
- Add more water if the mixture is too thick.
- Simmer on low heat till the dals/beans are totally soft. Mash some of the lentils with the spatula. 30 minutes.
- Or Pressure cook for 5 minutes at high pressure once the pressure has reached. (1 whistle + simmer for 5)
- Top with a small dollop of vegan butter or olive oil and cilantro.
- Serve with Roti/Naan flatbread or Rice Pilaf or other cooked grains like Quinoa, millet.
Video
Notes
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Soak the lentils and beans overnight.
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Pressure cook black gram and Kidney beans in 3.5 cups of water with salt and chili powder for 30 minutes at high pressure. Let the pressure release naturally.
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In a large pan or a cleaned out instant pot, add oil and heat on medium-high heat or saute mode in the IP.
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Add cumin seeds and cook till they start to change color.
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Add ginger, garlic and green chili and saute until golden.
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Add onion, asafetida and cook until translucent.
-
Add the tomato and turmeric and cook until tomatoes are mushy. (13-15 minutes till this step). Deglaze with 2 tbsp of water if needed.
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Add the cooked black gram, kidney beans and the water they were cooked in.
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Add garam masala, fenugreek and the milks. Mix really well to pick up any stuck bits, taste and adjust salt.
-
Add more water if the mixture is too thick.
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Pressure cook for 5 to 10 mins, Or simmer on saute for 30 minutes.(depends on your preferred consistency of the beans). Mash some of the lentils with the spatula.
- Top with a small dollop of vegan butter or olive oil and cilantro.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Could you give me some clarification on what beans you are using please…
I went to a local Indian grocery store for black gram/whole urad assuming they are the same bean (as you implied), but they had both, and they are VERY different. The whole urad looked as you described, like black mung beans. The black gram however was totally different. They looked like very dark brown mini garbanzo beans.
i have pictures in the post. The black mung bean looking ones are the ones used for the recipe. Those others were prob brown chickpeas (kala chana or kala gram). Kala translates to dark, so they might have used black as the closer translation. It is generally labelled brown chickpeas.
Thats why i have the pics:)
what is the timing for an instant pot?
Same times as pressure cooking times mentioned above. 25 mins high pressure for the beans then 5 mins again later inthe second to last step.
Thanks! Making it tomorrow
Do you have more detailed instructions for the instant pot? Can the tempering be done on saute in the pot before adding the beans/ lentils and pressure cooking, and if so, how does that change the pressure cooking time? And should the release be a natural release or quick release? Thanks!
Hi Nina, Iupdated instant pot instructions in the notes section now.
Really enjoyed this. Did it all on a standard stovetop as don’t have a pressure cooker!
I’m curious how there is dietary cholesterol? I thought that no plant-based foods contain Cholesterol?
I’m going to give a try, but will try and reduce the fat content for Heart Disease… thank you!
The widget is probably defaulting to dairy cream in calculation, let me check
yep, it was using regular butter instead of vegan. updated
This is the best dal makhani recipe I’ve tried. I love your Garam Masala recipe too. Thank you so much!
This is a lovely recipe. With this unusually long Winter into late March I made a double batch last night to eat all week. Sure, I did eat a bowl before bed and had a dream I was running a garage sale for Yoko Ono. We were trying to sell an accordion. The house still smells amazing this morning. This is the first of your recipes for me. Great job.
I love this, and have made it twice in 2 wks, with a few tweaks!
Question: Those look like black mustard seeds in the photos?
Yes, sometimes I add some either accidentally or for a change in flavor. Thats my mum’s hands cooking when i took the photos and she must have added some. We both cook Indian food with a general outline which we change a bit here and there
Hi Richa,
I so love your recipes, posts, and cookbook. I send lots of peeps to your site! I am going to try this recipe since this is my all time favorite dal and have tried to make it twice a home from another person’s vegan recipe and it was a disaster.
Reading thru your recipe, i have a question. If I use cooked red kidney beans, do I throw them in with the raw black lentils for 25 mins? I’m confused about that. Please clarify. Thank you for all that you do!!
Is vegan butter essential? I would totally love to try this recipe since chicken mahkni was one of my favorite food when I was an omnivore. But where I live, vegan butter is not found in marts. 🙁
you can use oil instead. Also the dal makhani sauce uses a different method and sauce recipe than the chicken or paneer makhni, Make the sauce from this recipe and add veggies or tofu or fake chickin https://fettabbau-trim.today/2013/06/gobi-musallam-whole-roasted-cauliflower.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E