The last time I made traditional Indian food was in college. Right before my move to the United States, my mom decided to give me a crash course in cooking home food, citing “What will you do when you miss home?” I was a strong opponent to packaged ready to eat meals so I begrudgingly learnt the Baniya basics: Arhar dal and Sookhe Aloo. This also came with a suitcase filled with packaged dal, a ziplock baggie of rice (don’t ask why), and the tiniest pressure cooker that prestige makes. As I moved to my new home — a dorm with a shared party of kitchen and access to some of the tastiest fried food in the world, the pressure cooker sat firmly under my bed in the same box that it was shipped in from the factory. It collected dust for a good semester only to be moved once on a winter morning when my friend Yen Anh came frantically to my room in search for some rice; not to make some food but to use it to salvage her new iPhone that she had freshly dunked into the toilet. Now with the rice gone, the motivation to ever even think about making a home cooked meal dwindled.

The Summer after my first year in college, I spent 2 months on campus to work and earn some money. This was in fact, my first ever full-time job and while it required a lot of manual labour, there was something great about having an empty campus in the middle of the summer all to yourself. Thus sunk in the first signs of nostalgia as well. You see, in the summers the college gave away its services to summer camps and other activities and regular scholarly activities went on hiatus. And with that, so did the dining room staff. This meant, that for the first time, not only did I have a full-time job but I also take care of my full-time adult self. Suddenly the pressure cooker and a Skype call back home seemed a lot more convenient. One quick phone call and a typical mom recipe (no measurement all approximations) and I was on my way to make some arhar dal and sookhe aloo. It took some effort in the start but by the second or third try, I got the hand of perfecting this meal. I even added variations and started to add brined onions to get a more pungent flavour in the dal. I even started to invite desi friends over for meals. One of the many rituals that started through this was a desi movie night — Dal Chawal, a pitcher of Diet Coke & Jack Daniels, and a Bollywood movie from circa the 2000s.

This is the first time I have made Dal Makhni. The recipe comes from Natasha (whose family actually measures their ingredients as compared to mine) with some changes along the way. I wanted to keep the flavours intact while also reducing the clutter of spices that we add sometimes in hopes that more is more. The traditional recipe that fun fact: was made by Moti Mahal founder, Kundan Lal Gujral— the creator of the Butter Chicken as well; calls for an element of slow cooking in a tandoor to get that smoky finish. However, in an attempt to make this is a little more accessible, and to prevent your kitchens from burning down and me getting legal notices, have been omitted. That being said, the complexity of flavour, incorporation of vats of fat, and that classic restaurant flavour are not compromised. I hope you do try this recipe and if you do, don’t forget to share pictures! Happy cooking 🥰

Glimpses from the week

Ingredients

¾ cup whole urad dal (whole black gram)
¼ cup rajma (kidney beans)

⅓ cup milk

1 tablespoon cream

½ tsp coriander powder

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

¼ teaspoon hing

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

½ tsp garam masala

½ teaspoon red chili powder

2 tablespoons butter

5-6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 inch of ginger, minced

1 onion, chopped fine

3 large tomatoes, roughly chopped

1-inch cinnamon


1 cup water or add as required


Salt to taste

Method

1. Wash the dal and rajma. Soak it for one hour and then transfer it into a pressure cooker.

2. Add black peppercorns, salt, cardamom and pressure cook it on very low heat for 1 hour (18-20 whistles)

3. In the meanwhile, make a fresh ginger and garlic paste in the blender.

4. Also, blend the tomatoes to make a fresh purée.

5. In a pan, add butter, ginger garlic paste, hing, onion, and tomato purée and cook till it thickens in consistency. 5 minutes with constant stirring.

6. Now, add this to the cooked dal, along with 1 cup of water and the milk and cook till it thickens and reaches the consistency you want. This will take at most 25 minutes.

7. Lastly, add cream, salt to taste, coriander powder, red chilli powder, garam masala. Stir constantly for about 10 minutes. Serve with a fresh drizzle of cream.