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dal bukhara recipe | creamy slow cooked delicious dal bukhara recipe

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dal bukhara recipe
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dal bukhara recipe with step by step photos – a dish that comes close to dal makhani and was made famous by the ITC maurya hotel in new delhi.

the recipe of dal bukhara consists of minimal ingredients and this is what brings out the best in this recipe. unlike dal makhani, dal bukhara is made only with whole urad lentils (black gram) and not with rajma (kidney beans). also dal bukhara is slow cooked overnight on the tandoor.

i first came across this simple creamy lentil dish in femina magazine many years ago. the recipe section in this issue had recipes from maurya sheraton and surprisingly the itc maurya sheraton chefs had shared the recipe of dal bukhara along with the other recipes.

when i read the dal bukhara recipe first time, i was surprised that the recipe bore close resemblance to butter chicken or paneer makhani. dal makhani was not in my repertoire then. now i can say that the sauce made for dal bukhara and dal makhani is similar to butter chicken. what i felt and thought many years back is confirmed by this excellent informative piece of indian cuisine history here by vir sanghvi.

i had kept the dal makhani recipe cut outs in a book safe and secure. we shifted our home a few times and along with usual changes that happen through out life…. dal bukhara was forgotten for many years. so when i started food blogging, i went to check the recipe and i was in for a surprise. out of the 3-4 pages i had kept, only 2 pages were left. some how the other pages had got misplaced. and one of the missing pages had the original authentic recipe of dal bukhara from the itc maurya sheraton chefs. i only had the page having the dal bukhara photo  🙁 (pictured below).

dal bukhara recipe

so i recollected the ingredients used in the original recipe. i even got the dal bukhara ready to eat pack just to check the ingredients used. the only spice which i was not sure of was tej patta. so i knew almost all the ingredients but i did not know their proportions.

i experimented and made dal bukhara twice and felt something missing. third time it came close to the original one. the only ingredient missing was the charcoal flavor.

also i have not slow cooked the beans overnight on a tandoor. i don’t have wooden or charcoal embers nor do i have a tandoor or time to cook dal bukhara overnight. a slow cooker would do the job. but i have no experience with a slow cooker. so i have pressure cooked the beans first and then slowly simmered the dal with tomato, cream, butter and ginger-garlic for 1 hour 25 mins on a low flame.

you can give a charcoal flavor to dal bukhara which we call as dhungar. details on how to do the dhungar or smoking technique, i have mentioned in the recipe details notes section. i have explained the dhugar technique in more detail in these recipes post:

  1. dal tadka
  2. restaurant style dal makhani
  3. palak paneer recipe

the dal bukhara is a rich recipe with the amount of butter and cream gone in its preparation. to get the real taste i would not suggest reducing the cream or butter. as i have tried with less amounts of butter and cream and it just had that ‘something is missing or just not right’ point. i have used unsalted white butter and amul cream (25% low fat). you can use any good brand of butter and low fat dairy cream (25% to 30%).

serve dal bukhara hot with jeera rice, naan, paratha or phulka or tandoori rotis or khasta rotis. it goes best with naan.

if you are looking for more dal recipes then do check chana dal, panchmel dal, dhaba style dal fry, cholar dal and dal fry restaurant style recipe.

dal bukhara recipe below:

dal bukhara recipe

dal bukhara recipe

dal bukhara is a rich, creamy slow cooked whole urad dal (black gram) with tomato puree, butter and cream. dal bukhara recipe is made famous by ITC maurya hotel in delhi.

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course main course
cuisine north indian
prep time 8 hours
cook time 2 hours
total time 10 hours
servings 6 to 7
author dassana

ingredients (1 cup = 250 ml)

  • 1.5 cups whole urad dal or whole black gram
  • 250 grams tomatoes or 3 medium to large tomatoes
  • ½ inch ginger + 4 to 5 medium garlic - crushed finely in a mortar-pestle - about 2 teaspoon of ginger garlic paste (adrak lahsun ka paste)
  • 1 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder or deghi mirch - if using a hotter variety then use ½ teaspoon
  • ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
  • 90 to 100 grams white butter or regular butter - about 6 to 7 tablespoon white butter
  • 7 to 8 tablespoon low fat cream or 25% to 30% fat
  • 4.5 to 5 cups water for pressure cooking the lentils
  • 1 to 1.5 cup water to be added later
  • ½ inch ginger (adrak) - julienned for garnish (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon butter or cream for garnish (optional)
  • salt as required

how to make recipe

preparation for dal bukhara recipe:

  1. soak the lentils in enough water overnight or for 7 to 8 hours.
  2. drain them later and add the drained lentils in a 3 or 4 litre pressure cooker.
  3. add 4.5 to 5 cups water and pressure cook the lentils for 16 to 18 whistles or about 18 to 20 minutes.
  4. meanwhile when the lentils are getting cooked, make a puree of the tomatoes in a blender and crush the ginger and garlic to a paste in mortar-pestle.

making dal bukhara recipe:

  1. when the pressure settles down on its own, open the lid of the pressure cooker.
  2. then add the ginger garlic paste, tomato puree, kashmiri red chili powder, butter, cream and salt. also add 1 to 1.5 cups of water.
  3. stir very well and keep the pressure cooker without its lid on a low flame. let the dal simmer for about 1 hour or for 1 hour 30 mins.
  4. meanwhile keep on stirring often, so that the lentils don't stick at the bottom of the cooker. also mash some of the lentils while stirring.

  5. if the dal bukhara becomes thick, then add some hot water. once done, check the taste and add more red chili powder or salt if required.

  6. lastly sprinkle garam masala powder and stir well.
  7. while serving dal bukhara, dot with the butter or cream. garnish with ginger juliennes.
  8. serve dal bukhara hot with jeera rice, naan, paratha or rotis.

recipe notes

how to bring charcoal flavor in dal bukhara:

  1. secure firmly a small piece of the coal between a tong.
  2. heat it in the flame till it becomes red hot.
  3. now place the red hot coal in a small steel bowl. place this bowl on top of the cooked dal bukhara in the cooker.
  4. pour a few tsp of ghee (oil or butter) on the coal and quickly cover the lid of the cooker tightly.
  5. keep for a few minutes and then open the lid. if you want a pronounced charcoal flavor in the dal bukhara, then you have to keep for a few minutes more.


lets start step by step dal bukhara recipe:

1. soak 1.5 cups whole urad dal (whole black gram) in enough water overnight or for 7 to 8 hours. drain them later and add the drained lentils in a 3 or 4 litre pressure cooker. add 4.5 to 5 cups water and pressure cook the lentils for 16 to 18 whistles or for about 18 to 20 minutes. pic below of the soaked and drained lentils.

whole urad dal for making dal bukhara recipe

2. meanwhile when the lentils are getting cooked, make a puree of the 250 gms tomatoes (3 medium to large tomatoes) in a blender. crush the ginger and garlic to a paste in a mortar-pestle (½ inch ginger + 4 to 5 medium garlic or about 2 tsp of ginger garlic paste).

tomato puree for dal bukhara recipe

3. when the pressure settles down on its own, open the lid of the pressure cooker. the lentils should be cooked well and soft.

cooked dal for dal bukhara recipe

4. now add the ginger garlic paste, tomato puree, 1 tsp kashmiri red chili powder, 6-7 tbsp white butter, 7-8 tbsp low fat cream, 1 to 1.5 cup water and salt.

spices for dal bukhara recipe

5. stir very well and keep the pressure cooker without its lid on a low flame.

making dal bukhara recipe

6. let the dal simmer for about 1 hour or more. meanwhile keep on stirring often, so that the lentils don’t stick at the bottom of the cooker. the lentils become viscous and start to stick at the bottom if not stirred. the lentils would become creamy and the consistency of the dal bukhara will keep on thickening. you can add some hot water to reduce the dal bukhara from getting too thick. also mash some of the lentils while stirring.

cooking dal bukhara recipe

7.  towards the end, check the taste and add more red chili powder or salt if required. lastly sprinkle ½ tsp garam masala powder and stir well. the consistency of dal bukhara is like dal makhani.

adding garam masala to dal bukhara recipe

8. while serving dal bukhara, dot with 1 tbsp butter or cream. garnish with ginger juliennes and serve dal bukhara hot with jeera rice, naan, paratha or rotis. it goes best with naan. i served dal bukhara with jeera rice and onion lachcha (onion ring salad).

if you want to serve dal bukhara with naan then check these naan recipes:

  1. naan without yeast
  2. whole wheat naan
  3. naan recipe with yeast
  4. cheese garlic naan
  5. butter naan
  6. garlic naan

dal bukhara recipe




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Reader Interactions

{ 103 Responses }

  1. hi..thanks for this great recipe . This recipe Dal Bukhara is tge creation of the great padma shri Masterchef Imtiyaz Qureshi of India.. love this recipe.

  2. Hello Dassana,

    Yesterday, i tried your dal bukhara and paneer makhanwala recipe for my husband’s birthday dinner. Even though I doubled the quantity mentioned in the recipe, it came out very well. Everyone loved it and I got many compliments. All thanks to you 🙂

    Kind Regards,

    Jayanti

  3. Dassana ji you are simply amazing.. I tried many of your recipes. Today i made Dal Bhukhara. It is really very delicious. Without you it cannot be happen.Thanks so much for sharing lots of recipes for us.

  4. Hi,
    I am a big fan of your recipes. Your dal bukhara version is my version of Dal makhni. I read it many years ago in a Sanjeev Kapoor cook book and since then I am making it this way only. The only difference is as its dal makhni I add finely chopped onion, garlic and ginger while cooking the dal and once its done I add 1cup whole milk and after few minutes pureed tomatoes. It always comes out amazing. Its a hit in my circle. I’ll surely try this recipe too.

    • thanks nisha for the feedback and also for sharing your dal makhani recipe. i will give a try as i never add milk. i am sure it will be good. do try this dal bukhara recipe also. its a favorite at my place and you will like it.

  5. Hi,
    Today I will be making dal.bukhara. is it necessary to put fresh cream. What is the use .what if I want to skip it.???

  6. Hi Dassana,

    Can I use whipping cream instead of fresh cream? Or any other substitute you can advise. We don’t get Malai/Fresh cream in US.

    Thanks

    • you can use whipping cream. for any curry or gravy recipe that requires cream, you can also use whipping cream. but add less as whipping cream has a higher fat content. in this dal bukhara recipe you can add about 3 to 4 tablespoons of whipping cream.

    • there is no need to add kasuri methi in dal bukhara. slow cooking gives so much of flavor to the dal that more spices or herbs are not required. but if you want you can add kasuri methi also.

  9. I 1st heard this recipe on TLC’s show of Gordon Ramsay that time I know about Dal Bukhara your recipe looks same thanks alot for recipe.My also kept recipe’s pages and magazine and those are date back of 1990s whenever i got time I search them for recipe. I learn many recipe from those too.

  10. Hey awesme recipe…i tried it nd oh my my my. It ws so delicious in taste… cn i use kidney beans with whole lentils… in dis dal bukhara recipe…

  11. Ur n awesome cook I just love ur recipes, I tried many n all r turned out well
    Thanks

  15. In Dal Bhukhara recipe what dal u used mam.
    u said black whole gram (urad dal) but in photo it looks with green and brown color dal

  17. It went beyond my expectation. Unluckily I didn’t learn much cooking before getting married. Now after marriage every day is an adventure for me to find, learn and try new items with the easily available materials in Germany. Thank you so much for this recipe. My husband loved the end product. I am a regular follower of your recipes now and sharing the site with others as well.

  18. Your recipes are awesome..And this one turned out to be superb…Thanks a lot for helping beginners like me :):)

  19. Wooow…..its a very useful site for us.here’stop most recipes are available with right method of cooking…I also a hotel management student….I trust this

  20. Hi
    I recently came across your website and wow it was jack pot… I tried a few recipes… kadai mushroom, basic Eggless chocolate cake and a few more… They have turned out really good… All thanx to even the minute details that u take care of… The substitutes that u mention, step by step pictorial methods… Everything is just perfect… Thanx a ton… And today I am going to make dal bikhara… Thanx again

  21. Very original and simple recipe. Years ago I happened to eat at a roadside Dhaba on Pathankot – Gurdaspur Highway in Punjab. The taste blew away my mind. I returned to their open kitchen early morning & noticed the chefs put the already overnight soaked lentils into hot boiling water for about 2-3 mins then taking out , letting it cool and then finally again putting up on tandoor for slow-simmer. Although the chefs never gave away the secret of Blanching, I’m sure it is done to give unique reddish coloring to the final dish.

    Black Lentils are amongst top gaseous foods in the world, hence adding a Tadka of Heeng + Garlic before serving is general practice in north Indian home kitchens.

    Thanks Amit for the wonderful recipe.

  22. Hi Dassana,

    The recipe looks awesome n I want to try it. Just a quick Question. I have a slow cooker but do you think I should put just soaked dal in it or pressure cook it before putting it in the slow cooker. If I just soak it n put it I rekon it will take atleast 8 hours for the dal to reach the pressure cook stage.

    What do you think?

    • thanks payal. the time you are mentioning is correct. it might take even more. if you want to speed up the process then pressure cook the soaked dal first and then add in slow cooker.

  23. Just put the daal in my crockpot. Can’t wait to taste it! I was missing nutmeg and whole black cardamom but I add a pinch of chai masala I had on hand (which already had nutmeg, cardamom and cinnamon).

  24. Hi Dassana,

    What a great web site (and a great recipe)! I’m an Irish-American fellow from Boston, Massachusetts, but Indian food – especially dal (and pakoras) – has a lot of fond childhood associations for me… My parents were academics and we spent several years in Delhi when I was young (we also travelled frequently to Bangladesh, Nepal, etc, but were always based out of Delhi; this was a while ago, back when you could still go up the Qutb Minar, in the 1970’s and 80’s).

    At any rate, I wanted to provide a mini review, since I had the opportunity to dine at Bukhara last year with my father and a few colleagues -and I’ve been searching for their dal recipe ever since, which is how I found your site.

    First off, it’s almost impossible to get in. Reservations are made months ahead. There is, according to ITC General Manager Atul Kumar, one day a week that is “open seating, ” though Atul told me that lines can be insane, reaching out past the pool area to the street beyond. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the exact day (Thursday sticks out for some reason).

    I was accompanying my father at an Asian Development Bank conference (he’s somewhat elderly). I met Mr. Kumar when he came to the  for a Tiger Woods/Tendulkar event. We became friends and he was able to get our party in to Bukhara the night before we were due to leave Delhi (almost no one recognized Tiger, on his first “golf tour” in India, and went insane over Tendulkar).

    The service was impeccable and the food sublime. The dal, in particular, was incredibly delicious! A chef I spoke to said that they smoke it for up to 48 hours… It was rich and very tasty. Other standouts include the garlic naan (also amazing) and “the Bill Clinton,” which I think is officially called “The Presidential Platter” and is essentially a smorgasbord of meats (lots of lamb). Apparently it’s what Clinton ordered when he was there (he does like a good BBQ).

    Lastly, many thanks for your “smoking” tip. That was a new technique to me and a flavor I thought I wouldn’t be able to replicate at home (without a tandoori  oven, of course).

    Best, Christopher.

    Ps. A final question: when making this without a slow cooker, in a pot, how long would you estimate cooking the lentils/dal?

    • thanks chris for taking the time to share your experience and write up a detailed review on ITC. it was good to read your write up. i did not reservations are made months ahead. i have heard about their garlic naan too. the smoking tip makes the dal smoky. i have not yet tried with dal bukhara. but with dal makhani i tried a couple of times and it tastes exactly like the restaurant ones. if you can get some natural charcoal, then you can create the same flavors at home too. and this technique can be used for any dish.

      i have never worked with a slow cooker. so i have no clue how much time it will take. you will have to try and check how long the beans will take to cook. but do try the slow cooking method. this is what makes a dal bukhara tastes so creamy and oh so delicious.

    • divya, actually one hour is very less. originally the recipe is simmered overnight. thats how it is made authentically. most slow cooked it is better it taste.

  26. Tried the dal bukhara along with your aloo kulcha recipe over the weekend and my oh my, I never thought I could make dal makhni taste so authentic. Right from measurements, to explaining minute details about recipes, your blog is the absolute best, one that I trust blindly!

  29. Dear Dassana, A Swede in India since a year and how I love your recipe. Tried three other ways of cooking the dahls, but nothing comes close. Even my Indian friends like it! That one and a half hour of stirring it is what I consider love. Would you by any means share the newspaper and the year for the original recipe?

    • thanks maude. slow cooking at its best 🙂 its from femina india magazine. i just had a few torn papers from the magazine. but i do not remember the date. unfortunately i lost out on the recipe, but fortunately i remembered the ingredients 🙂

  30. Hi,

    I just found your website, and I absolutely love it. I am a virgin to Indian cooking but it looks like there are things here that I could try and not mess up too much. I do want to know how long I should cook this dish if I don’t have a pressure cooker? I know it will take a while, but I would love to know a little more precisely.
    thank you.

    • thanks svetlana. it will take about 2 to 3 hours. also depends on the temperature conditions and the quality of dal. use the lentils which are fresh and not near the expiry date.

  31. HI,
    I have been working as a chef with the owner who used to be a bukhara chef in delhi..
    when i joined his own restaurent the black dhal was different and new chefs are changing the black dhal and the restaurent had trouble with black dhal..
    then i saw yr page on the internet and was interesting and i was happy to follow it..
    i did follw yr recipe but the i did put some coriander powder and little bit cumin powder so that i can get dark brown colour..if not then colour would be red..
    then i asked my owner to taste it, was really happy..
    saying U made today dal bukhara…
    Thank you for yr best recipe…

    • welcome bimal. its really a very positive feedback and adds authenticity stamp on this dal bukhara recipe. your feedback is going to motivate many readers to try making this recipe at home. thanks for sharing your variation and your story. it matters a lot to us as well as to the readers.

  32. Came across your website when looking for recipes for Gulab Jamun with Khoya, got enamored with all the different recipes, that last I cooked dinner for our friends from Delhi using all your recipes for Dal Bukhara, Jeera Rice, tawa paneer, Dahi Bhindi, and bharwan Karela. Every single dish was amazing and our guests took all our leftovers home. Hubby and I had only about 1/2 a cup of tawa paneer and some dahi bhindi left for lunch today. What is most impressive about your recipes and my experience with them is that, I myself have never personally eaten any of the dishes I prepared before and yet found that my guests were blown away by every single dish. My non-indian guests could not get enough of the dal and would like a repeat of it soon.

    • firstly thanks dee for this comment. i am myself amazed at how you pulled of all this recipes in one day and that too perfectly. when the guests take the leftovers, then the food must have been really good. i can so relate with this 🙂 glad to know about your experience. the bukhara dal is amazingly good. in fact its one of the favorite dal at home. if you have a slow cooker, you can make the dal in it too. slow cooking gives the dal a perfect taste and texture.

  33. Hi Dassana,

    If I were to cook it normally on a stove instead of a pressure cooker how much water should I add in total?

    Thanks
    Shaila

    • welcome shaila. start with 6 cups of water for cooking and you can then keep on adding water as required. but it will take a lot of time to cook in a pot. but this effort will be worth the time as you will get a good taste.

  36. Hi,
    I cooked it yesterday and it turned out to be amazing.I tweaked it a bit and used my crockpot (slow cooker with stone untensil) to cook it overnight on slow heat and trust me it was as good as it can get.Thanks for the recipe

    Regards

    John

    • welcome john. the slow cooked version is actually the authentic version. so you got the correct taste of dal bukhara and made excellent use of slow cooker.

  37. Hi,

    Thanks very much for the recipe. Just about to try it. I’ve been trying replicate the bukhara restaurant flavour for a while now (with limited success) and am quite surprised to see that your recipe is quite simple compared to some of the others I’ve tried.

    Would you recommend slow-cooking the dal in an oven while covered with foil for a few hours to allow the ingredients to mix better?

    • welcome nikhi. in fact even i saw some recipes on the web and they used a lot of ingredients. but from what i remember in the magazine, dal bukhara has not many ingredients. you can slow cook the dal in the oven. in fact its the slow cooking that gives dal bukhara as well as dal makhani its unique taste.

  38. Hi,
    I am a big fan of your website.
    And till date whatever i have tried came out very well..! All my friends and relatives appreciates my cooking now! All thanks to your website..

    My husband and his friends are hardcore non vegetarian and its vice versa with all the females! They never appreciate any veg food and Chicken is like GOD to them 😛
    But i must tell you.. The other day I tried DAL BUKHARA with charcoal flavour and it was truly awesome..
    Thank you so much for your recipes Dassana 🙂

  39. Hi,
    I hv tried many of ur recipes. All of them came out very yummy. Just wanted to ask in dis u hv used raw tomato or boiled one for puree??

  40. Hi ,

    I have seen the preparation of dal bukhara in some video.
    I think the taste is contributed by the utensil they use for it (made of very heavy metal with thick base) and the sim flames of tandoor overnight.
    It makes lentils very creamy with unique flavor.
    Otherwise it is similar to any simple dal makhani.
    And i am very happy with the efforts of you.
    if some one cooks something on a very low temperature for a very long time as bajra khichri in rajasthan it becomes very creamy.

    • usually, they make in clay pots and this gives unique flavor & taste. the low simmering flames of the tandoor overnight also contributes to the smoky flavor. i agree and from my own experience, slow cooking for a few hours or many hours make the lentils creamy. thanks for the feedback and views.

  41. Hi Dassana, i have tried most of your recipes and all of them came out very nice and tasty. My question for this recipe is can i use mong dal instead of black lentil as i dont have it.

    Thanks & Keep up the good work.

    • moong beans will give a different taste and texture. and for moong beans the proportion of tomatoes will change too. so i would not suggest with moong beans, reason being the dal would become bland and you would need to spice it up more with a few spices and herbs.

    • pooja, just soak the rajma with the dal overnight and then cook both of them together. you can add about 1/4 cup of rajma. many people add rajma dal makhani also and many don’t. its a personal choice. but in dal bukhara, rajma is not added.

  45. Hi,
    I am a foodie and have been trying lay my hands on Dal Bukhara recipe since I have had this Dal for quiet some time. I prepared Dal bukhara strictly as advised above and trust me I was not disappointed. It just came out very close to what I had in Bukhara. Keep it up. Thanks again !!

    • welcome ashish. that means a lot to me because its coming from someone who has had the dal bukhara many times before. thanks for sharing your positive feedback. i wish, i have infused the dal bukhara with charcoal smoke.

  46. Hi, I tried this recipe and it turned out yummy.Thank you for sharing with all the details.

  47. Sounds good! I regularly prepare lentil recipes in my pure clay pot and they are always soft and in shape. The reason being, your beans & lentils cook with far-infrared heat emitting from the walls of the pot, let seasoning & spices penetrate deeper without damaging the surface. It’s never mushy or grainy. Most importantly it holds all the nutrients in the food and no fear of metal or chemicals leaching into the food. I got mine from mecware.US (online)

  48. I never tried dal makhani .When we had it outside i felt a little bitter or somewhat very different compared to other gravies .How is the taste of bukhara exactly like makhani?Adding of urad dal gives that taste i guess right ?

  49. Hi Dassana
    I tried this recipe of dal bukhara it turned out delicious .
    Please update on neer dosa.

    Thank you.
    Neelam.

  52. you know what I loved most?!! The picture and the color combination of it. At least for the lovely picture I would give a try of the recipe.. I have already made up my mind to try it out and I can’t wait to buy so I am gonna book the ingredients on now itself.
    Thanks for the pics and recipe!