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One of the best parts of eating a veggie diet is the variety of foods that you tend to eat. When you’re forced to rethink your meals and look at what parts of the world eat a more plant based diet you begin to explore a variety of ethnic cuisines. This was definitely the case with us, and one of our favourites is Indian food. There are many great veggie dishes in Indian cuisine but one of our favourites is Dal Makhani. This dish features lentils and beans in a nicely spiced sauce. We have played with this and modified it to make it easier than the original and suitable for a vegan diet. I usually use black beans instead of kidney beans because they are easier to cook, but if you’re a purest feel free to use red kidney beans as the traditional recipe calls for.

Sort of Dal Makhani
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Sort of Dal Makhani

Course: DinnerCuisine: Vegan, VegetarianDifficulty: Easy
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

20

minutes
Cooking time

1

hour 
Total time

1

hour 

20

minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of dry black lentils or 1 can if you prefer (you can use green or brown too)

  • 1 cup of dry black beans or 1 can if you prefer (traditionally red kidney beans are used so feel free to go that route if you prefer)

  • 1 large red onion, diced

  • 1 Tbsp of ginger, minced

  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced

  • 1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes

  • 1 tsp of salt

  • 1 tsp of chili powder

  • 1 tsp of garam masala

  • 1 tsp of fenugreek (optional)

  • 1 tsp of mango powder (optional)

  • 1/2 tsp of ground cardamom

  • 1/2 of a 141 g. box of pure creamed coconut (or 1 can of coconut cream. This will make a thinner sauce). You can get creamed coconut at most grocery stores that sell Indian ingredients. We have seen it at Walmart too.

Directions

  • If you are using dry beans place them in a pressure cooker and cook for 30-40 minutes, rinse them well and set aside. I often find that kidney beans don’t cook consistently which is why I will use black beans.
  • If you are using dry lentils place them in a pot with plenty of water and boil for 7-10 minutes until soft but not mushy, rinse well and set aside.
  • If you are serving over rice, now is the time to put that on to cook.
  • In a large frying pan over medium heat, fry the onion, ginger and garlic in a dab of oil until the onions become translucent.
  • Add the chili powder, garam masala, fenugreek, mango powder, salt and cardamom to the pan and stir for a minute to mix in and cook the spices.
  • Add the tomatoes and coconut to the pan and stir well while bringing the temperature back up.
  • Add the lentils and beans and continue to heat through.
  • With the back of your stirring spoon, mush the beans a little so that about half of them are mushed and continue to stir making sure the coconut has fully dissolved into the sauce.
  • Serve hot over a bed of rice.

Notes

  • Serve hot (or cold) with a yogurt mint dip with a meal, as a snack or on the go. They are a great thing to take camping, hiking or on a picnic. We love to take bhajis or pakoras on the boat for a quick heat and serve side.
Sort of Dal Makhani
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