Bukhara is a legendary restaurant famous for its dal cooked overnight in a tandoor and made from black urad dal. The name of this dal is coined as “Dal Bukhara” after the name of the restaurant.
We recently saw some videos and interviews on what makes this dal so legendary. The interviews gave us a hint about the very simplicity of slow cooking and we were surprised by lack of any dry spices other than mild red chili powder being used. This spoke to us since everything relied on good ingredients and patient cooking.
Our Bukhara style House Dal
We picked up some tips from videos at Bukhara.
- Pick the urad dal for impurities like stones etc and wash it properly (6 times till water runs clean). These are black gram whole lentils available in indian grocery stores and are not to be confused with mung or beluga lentils.
- Soak overnight
- Boil properly till mushy
- Discard boiling water
- Mash dal to create creamy richness during the second cooking with spices
- The rich creamy texture comes less from cream, butter and more from the mashed dal.
- Use strained tomato, ginger and garlic puree
- Use good cream or milk and butter
- Eat it the next day, since it taste incredibly fantastic when you wait for a day. The butter gets infused with the spices adding a complex mature taste
We started making a slow cooker version using the slow cooker our family friends Sanyogita kaku and Suhas Kaka had gifted us. This requires very little and intermittent attention.
When in a hurry we developed a pressure cooker version as well. In Both cases, the overnight soaking is something we recommend you do not skip. We also spice it mildly so that we can enjoy a bowl of Dal just like a soup. Its soul satisfying for lack of better words. Otherwise we serve it with Naan or some steamed rice.
As an advanced step you can heat a piece of coal in a small metal dish, keep it over the dal. Then add some cloves and cumin over the top and add some ghee which will create smoke. Immediately cover with lid and let the dal smoke with these flavors. Check the smoked buttermilk recipe for hints. People also add a few spoons of red kidney beans to this dal following the same recipe including soaking them overnight.
Print
Bukhara Style Dal
- Total Time: 24 hours
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
The Dal made from Black Urad lentils at Bukhara in delhi is famous as dal bukhara. One can hardly make an exact recipe but this is our house recipe for Bukhara style dal
Ingredients
- 2 cups Black Urad Dal with skin soaked overnight (3/4 cup dry lentils)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 6 cups water
- 1 large tomato
- 8 medium garlic cloves
- 1 inch piece of ginger
- 1 tsp mild red chili powder or paprika
- salt to taste
- 0.5 cup milk (traditionally cream, but we find this works with milk if you mash the dal properly)
- 2 cup water
- 4 Tbsp unsalted cultured Butter plus 4 tsp while serving
Instructions
- If using a slowcooker cook soaked lentils for 12 hrs with 6 cups water and 1 tsp soda on low. If using pressure cooker cook for two whistles and let cool down with same ingredients and measures.
- Drain the black water from cooking by skimming it off the top
- Mash dal with a flat base of a tall glass to help in creating rich texture. Alternatively after adding the puree and water in next steps you can pulse with an immersion blender. This mashing is important. The rich creamy texture comes less from cream and more from the mashed dal.
- Puree the tomato, ginger and garlic and strain it over the cooked dal
- Add 1.5 cup water and 0.5 cup milk and the 4 Tbsp butter. Add the 1 tsp red chili powder
- Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours on low stirring every now and then in the slow cooker. Then cook till thick consistency is achieved. If using pressure cooker cook for one whistles and let it cool. Then scrape bottom, mix well and cook on low till desired consistency achieved.
- Taste and adjust seasoning with only salt. If dish tastes very rich and flat, you need some acid. You can add a few spoons of raw strained but freshly made tomato puree or some diluted ginger garlic paste in water a spoon at a time.
- This tastes much better when refrigerated and heated again next day, do this if you have the patience, it is worth it
- Serve with a teaspoon of unsalted cultured butter on top, let it melt and emulsify a bit
- Prep Time: 12 hours
- Cook Time: 12 hours
- Category: Entree, Soup
- Cuisine: Indian
Do we have to fry the puree and masala…or mix raw while cooking the dal..
Its slow cooked and thus adding it raw works