Most dals are everyday food. Dal makhani is the one that dresses for dinner. It was created in Delhi in the years after Partition, at the Moti Mahal restaurant in Daryaganj, by Punjabi cooks from Peshawar who had already made the city fall for their butter chicken and wanted a vegetarian dish to sit beside it. They took the whole black urad dal of Punjabi home cooking, added a handful of red kidney beans, and enriched the lot with the same tomato, butter and cream that made the chicken famous. Makhani means buttery, and the name has never once been accused of false advertising.

It is now one of the pillars of the North Indian table, served at weddings, at family celebrations and in restaurants from Amritsar to Bengaluru, and many Indian families still keep it for special occasions because of its richness. The secret is time. The lentils are cooked until they collapse, then simmered gently with the spiced tomato base for an hour or more, stirred and mashed now and then, until the whole pot turns smooth, dark and creamy, and the flavor is deeper still the next day.

You do not need a tandoor or a whole night, but you do need patience, and a pressure cooker helps if you have one. The reward is the deepest, most comforting bowl in Indian cooking, a fine thing to eat on a race weekend with a hot naan or a heap of rice. The Buddh circuit, where the Indian Grand Prix was held, sits about an hour from the kitchen where it began.

Cooking the lentils and beans

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (150 g) whole urad dal
• 1/4 cup (50 g) dried red kidney beans (rajma)
• 6 cups (1.4 liters) water
• 1 teaspoon fine salt

Method

1. Put the urad dal and kidney beans in the bowl and rinse them in several changes of cold water, rubbing them between your hands, until the water is mostly clear. Cover with plenty of fresh water, at least three times their depth, and leave to soak overnight.
2. Drain the soaked lentils and beans, put them in the large pot with the 6 cups of water and the salt, and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Boil hard for 10 minutes, skimming off any foam with a spoon. This makes the kidney beans safe to eat.
3. Turn the heat down to low, cover with the lid slightly ajar and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring now and then and adding hot water if the level drops below the lentils. In a pressure cooker, cook for about 35 minutes on high pressure and let the pressure release naturally.
4. Using the masher or the back of the ladle, mash about a third of the lentils and beans against the side of the pot. Keep the cooking water; it is part of the dish.

The masala and slow simmer

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons (30 g) ghee
• 2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 medium onion
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 or 2 green chilies
• 3 medium, about 12 oz (340 g) ripe tomatoes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Kashmiri chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• to taste fine salt

Method

1. Heat the ghee and butter in the heavy saucepan over medium heat until the butter foams. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for about 20 seconds.
2. Add the grated onion and cook, stirring often, for 6 to 8 minutes. Grated onion melts into the sauce rather than leaving pieces.
3. Stir in the ginger, garlic and green chilies and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Add the tomato puree, chili powder, coriander and sugar. Cook, stirring every minute or so, for 10 to 12 minutes, until it thickens and darkens.
5. Pour in the cooked lentils and beans with all their liquid and stir well. Bring to a gentle bubble, then turn the heat to its lowest setting, partly cover and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes and scraping the bottom so it does not catch. Add a splash of hot water if it gets too thick.
6. Stir in the garam masala and taste. Add salt a little at a time until the flavor is full and rounded.

Finishing

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
• 2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter
• a small handful fresh cilantro

Method

1. Stir in the cream. Rub the kasuri methi between your palms over the pot so it crumbles in, then stir and simmer on the lowest heat for 10 minutes more.
2. Melt the final 2 tablespoons of butter in the small pan until it foams. Spoon the dal into a warm serving bowl, pour the hot butter over the top, swirl in a little cream and scatter with cilantro.

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