I’ve tried twice now to make Daal Makhani in my slow cooker. The first time was an utter disaster. I’ll call the second time an “orchestrated” success. After slow cooking the daal for 8 hours, it was still a little tough. We were tired of waiting and ready to eat it with our palak channa, so I cheated. I emptied the contents of the slow cooker bowl directly into the pressure cooker and let it cook for 10 minutes. The result was creamy, soft masala spiked daal, but I can’t in good conscience pass it off as 100% slow cooked Daal Makhani. Sometimes, cheating is okay.
70’s housewives were on to something good with slow cookers. With a little pre-planning, you throw everything into the slow cooker, let the slow cooker do all of the work and a few hours later emerges a dish that has that “slaved-over-the-stove” look. Genius. This brings me to the first reason why I’ve been mildly obsessive over trying to make Daal Makhani in my slow cooker (it’s a 3-in-1 Rice Cooker, Slow Cooker and Steamer
If you make slow cooker Daal Makhani and are more in sync with your slow cooker, I would love to hear your tips in the comments.
| Slow Cooked Daal Makhani ~makes 8-10 servings~ Grocery: *These ingredients will not be added until the slow cooking is complete. Masalas: The first time I attempted this is in my slow cooker, I made two mistakes – First, I didn’t soak the urad daal overnight because when I use my pressure cooker only, that’s not required. Whole urad daal, however, has a tough husk, so you should soak it overnight when slow cooking. Second, I added the tomatoes and salt to the slow cooker bowl at the beginning of the 8 hours. After reading Robin Robertson’s Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, I learned that high acidity ingredients (like tomatoes and salt) should not be added until the very end because otherwise the lentils remain tough.
1. Turn the slow cooker on. If you’re slow cooker has High-Medium-Low settings, I recommend high. Heat about 1 tbsp. oil in the slow cooker bowl. 2. Soak whole urad daal overnight. Drain the excess water and sift through it for any stones or other debris. Open a can of kidney beans, drain the canned water and rinse in a colander in cold water. 3. Cook the onions in the slow cooker bowl with the lid open until translucent. Add the ginger-garlic paste and chilis and cook for 2-3 minutes. 4. Add all of the masalas EXCEPT for the salt. Mix in well. 5. Add the urad daal and kidney beans to the slow cooker bowl along with 3 cups water. Close the lid and set to cook for 8 hours. Robin offers another tip for successful slow cooking – don’t lift the lid to peek. We broke this rule approximately 3 times. Over an 8 hour period, who can resist?!
6. Go do something fun. (I’m a little OCD and don’t like the leave the house while my slow cooker is running. You’ll find zillions of consumer reviews on-line telling you this is perfectly safe to do.) 7. Close to the 8th hour, saute the diced tomatoes in a hot saucepan on medium-high heat with just a little oil (1/4 tspn) until they melt. Turn the heat to low and whisk in the yogurt and milk. Remove from heat. 8. When the slow cooker signals it’s complete, stir the tomato mixture in and add salt to taste. If your lentils still feel a little undercooked, don’t be embarrassed to do what I did. Dump them into the pressure cooker for 10 minutes or 1 whistle. 9. Garnish with fresh, chopped cilantro. |
The fact that I had to use my Fagor pressure cooker
I would love some slow cooking tips because until then, I’m sticking with the 99.98% slow cooker method since it did hands down lead to the best Daal Makhani I’ve ever made. Update: Maybe a daal without as tough of a husk would fare better in the slow cooker without a need to pre or post pressure cook. I’m thinking about maybe trying Masoor Daal or even Toor or Chana Daal…any thoughts?
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Been there, done that
Pressure cooking is what worked for me too, but I did that before I put it in the slow cooker. I had the daals soaked, pressure cooked, I did the tadka and then I kept in the cooker for the whole day. The taste was amazing….and instead of yogurt, I used evaporated milk…I love its flavor.
Trupti, okay on your word, I will try it again but this time backwards – pressure cooking then slow cooking. Evaporated milk is an interesting idea too…Thanks!
Girl, you got loads of patience.
Foodie, lol – that’s funny because I am VERY impatient. Which is why we couldn’t resist peeking into the cooker multiple times. Although, once I get an idea into my head, there’s no telling what I’m willing to do
I haven’t bought a slow cooker yet so I will not be able to share tips on the process,but your dal makhni looks just perfect, creamy and delicious. This is my first visit to your site and you have an awesome blog with wonderful recipes
Usha, thanks for the compliments! The daal, despite requiring a little finnagling between the slow cooker and pressure cooker was delicious. It can definitely be repeated using just a pressure cooker. Looking forward to reading your blog too.
Slow cooked meals are always the tastiest. This Daal is almost like a chili, but with those spices I bet it’s even better. I have to try this, my mouth is watering already. Yummy
Firstly, this looks awesome.
Secondly, cheating or not, I say good on you for using the pressure cooker. What matters is the end result, right?
Thanks Mike! Yes, I would definitely have to agree…and the end result was pretty tasty. Btw I am now sufficiently tired of chickpeas (you’ll see what I mean after I post about our chole)
Chuck, I’m definitely going to try vegetarian chili in the slow cooker…I bet the soy protein would taste great after being slow cooked for hours. Yum.
ive never tried any desi dishes on slow cooker…this might be a start for me!!
SuperChef, I hope you try it – I haven’t quite ventured in making sabji’s in the slow cooker but it would be interesting. Glad to have found your blog!
I have cooked dal makhni twice in the slowcooker and both times i did not presoak or pressure cook after.I dumped the dal,the onions,ginger garlic paste,all masalas at the same time and got perfectly good dal.The only mistake I made the first time was to have started it at around 9 in the night in anticipation of having it ready for lunch.I did not realise that the house would smell of dal amd masala all night long.Believe me when I say that i could not sleep all night because of the smell!My daughter was awakened by the smell and thought why would i be making bean burritos at 5 in the morning ! (I am deliberately using the word ’smell’ and not aroma because the last thing on your mind is aroma when you want to sleep!!my husband even suggested that i plug the cooker in the garage or basement or even the tightly shut bathroom,but not the kitcken when i next had the urge to start the dal at night!) So the next time,i started it at around 8 in the morning and we had good dal ready in about 8 to 10 hours.I cook it on low initially and than on high for the last couple of hours.I add the tomatoes and cream/milk at the end -after the dal has cooked.I end with a tadka -which is entirely optional and would not miss it if not done.
@Anu, that is a really funny story about the yummy smells in the midde of the night. I would have a hard time sleeping too. What do you include in your tadka? Also, is your slowcooker just a slow cooker? Mine is a 3-in-1, which I love for making rice but am thinking is maybe not a great slowcooker. For example, I don’t think it has an option btw high and low. Thanks!
i have a dedicated crockpot-slow cooker and tried making Tuvar dal. after 6 hours of waiting, i had to go with my pressure cooker. i did add an extra cup of water, as one blog suggested to add 1 extra cup of water.
Tried making rajma in pressure cooker. It tasted bland, despite adding the regular amount of masala that i use when making rajma on stove top. One of the blogs I read stated that one should add spices at end, as otherwise the flavour is not infused. I feel that as with Indian cooking, we usually do ‘tadka’ before adding the beans, I wanted to follow the similar concept – cook onion, add ginger,garlic, beans, rajma masala, required water, salt and cook for 6 hours. Then add tomatoes and cook on high for 2 hours. End result – mildly flavoured rajma
Found this from my bookmarks. This is on my to do list this month
http://simplyspicy.blogspot.com/2008/05/dal-makhani-cooked-in-slow-cooker.html
I would love to hear how it turns out…slow cooked daal is so flavorful.