Dal Pakhtooni and Sanjeev Kapoor

This particular recipe is from Sanjeev Kapoor's cookbook- Khazana of Indian Vegetarian Recipes. It was a gift from my MIL when I was married and soon after moved to the United States in a month. In those days (yeah, can't believe its been 10 years.) Just celebrated our 10th anniversary on Valentine's Day. Alright readers, Its only been 10 years, the way I have described it makes me look ancient..which I'm not..LOL.

In those days we did not have as many blogs to look out for new recipes like today. If I was in a mood to try my culinary adventures I would take ideas from this book. It was my GOTO book. If I had friends coming over and had to decide a menu for a party, this was the book to go to. Every party hosted in those days had recipes from this book, atleast one. This was before I had kids. After I had kids, it was'nt that I did not cook, but had fewer parties. But by then I was confident enough to try out my own recipes.

So you get the idea I hope, how special this book has been to me in my early married life and I'm sure Sanjeev kapoor may have inspired so many of you and he still inspires people with his passion for cooking and his great presentation skills. I must say I had a fantastic time with his recipes with great results and many happy people. Now if they are reading this they will know where I got all those awesome recipes from. Well, the secret is out Now. If you have such stories, incidents and secrets, would love to hear from you.

Here is a youtube video I found of the same recipe presented by none other than Sanjeev Kapoor himself. What more can you ask for..Its the same recipe from this book. I made this Dal Pakhtooni following the directions on this video and the results were amazing.

I'm listing the ingredients and preparation for the benefit of many who may not have the book or may not be able to spare time to watch this video.

Ingredients :

• 1 cup Black whole urad /Black gram
• 100 gms butter (1/2 cup)
• 2 tbsp ginger paste
• 2 tbsp garlic paste
• 1 tbsp red chilli powder
• 1 1/2 cups tomato puree
• 2 tsp Garam masala powder
• 1 cup fresh cream
• salt to taste

Preparation :

• Wash the black urad and soak it in four cups of water overnight.
• Cook it in four to five cups of water along with salt, red chilli powder and ginger paste. Bring it to a boil. Reduce flame and simmer till it is completely cooked and tender.
• Melt butter in a thick bottomed pan and add garlic paste dissolved in half a cup of water. Cook for about two minutes stirring constantly.
• Add tomato puree, garam masala and cooked dal. Cook on a low flame for an hour. Stir occasionally. Add water if required.
• Add fresh cream and simmer for about ten minutes.
• Serve hot with any Indian bread of your choice or even rice.
• This recipe serves 4.

You could even do the quick soaking method if you do not have time to soak it overnight. Just wash the Black urad and soak it in boiling hot water for 30-40 minutes covered.