This delicious vegan dal makhani strikes the perfect balance between easy and delicious, yet authentic-tasting Indian food. Usually dal makhani takes hours to make but with a few shortcuts, this delicious version is ready in just 40 minutes.
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⭐Why you’ll love it
- It’s quick to make, much quicker than traditional dal makhani.
- It’s easy enough for beginner cooks.
- It’s egg and dairy-free, suitable for vegans and vegetarians.
- It’s delicious and so creamy you won’t believe there is no cream in it!
- Cheat and use pre-cooked legumes.
- There’s very little chopping or food prep involved.
- It’s super filling and cheap to make if you have the spices to hand.
- It’s just as good as restaurant-style daal makhani but at a fraction of the calories.
If you’re like me and you love Indian food, especially easy vegan and vegetarian Indian food, you should also try:
- Chickpea spinach curry (chana palak), ready in just half an hour!
- One-pot vegan biryani! No muss, no fuss.
- Vegan tikka masala – this one is technically a British take on Indian food, but it’s still darn tasty.
🛒Ingredients
Lentils: Preferably, use cooked black lentils (urad dal, or beluga lentils), but these can be hard to find. You can substitute cooked brown lentils instead. Note they should be cooked through but firm, not mushy.
Crushed tomatoes: Use crushed canned tomatoes, not fresh ones. Fresh tomatoes have a less concentrated flavor, so you will need to reduce them more.
Cumin seeds: If you don’t have any, you can substitute ground cumin and add it to the other spices.
Green chili pepper: This is a very mildly spiced curry. If you don’t have a green chili pepper, you can substitute it with a red one or a quarter teaspoon of ground cayenne. If you are extremely sensitive to spice, then just omit it.
Lemon juice: This should be freshly squeezed, not bottled.
Coconut milk: Use only the full-fat version; light coconut milk contains too much water.
Vegan butter: Use a quality vegan buttery spread such as Earth Balance. In the UK and Ireland, use any high-quality margarine, such as Flora, that doesn’t have any animal fats in it.
👩🍳How to make it
Step 1: Heat the sunflower oil over medium-high heat and add in the cumin seeds when the oil is hot. Let the cumin seeds sputter and brown, but don’t let them get too dark. Add in the chopped onions and fry until golden. Stir often to prevent them from burning. Then add in the crushed garlic and finely chopped green chili.
Step 2: Fry for two minutes until the garlic doesn’t smell “raw” anymore. Next, add in the ground ginger, ground coriander, turmeric, ground cinnamon, ground clove, and ground nutmeg.
Step 3: Mix very well and fry for another two minutes, at which point you should be able to smell the deliciously toasted spices, and it should look like the image above.
Step 4: Measure the cooked lentils and kidney beans. Add the lentils and beans and mix well.
Step 5: Next, add the pureed tomatoes, water, and vegetable stock. Simmer for 15-20 minutes on medium heat, then add the salt and simmer on low-medium heat for up to 10 minutes or until they’re looking a little dry. Stir often to prevent sticking and burning.
Step 6: Once the lentils are cooked down, add the coconut cream, lemon juice, garam masala, and cook for a further two minutes before mixing in the chopped fresh cilantro and the vegan butter. Mix well and serve hot.
💡Expert tips
- To keep those chili pepper flavors but remove most of the heat, remove the white ribs and seeds from the chili before adding it.
- At the stage of adding in the cooked lentils, you can sub out dried lentils and cook according to pressure cooker/instant pot/stovetop timings, but don’t add the salt in until the lentils are cooked. Proceed with the rest of the recipe, remember you’ll still need to cook down the lentil mix until most of the liquid is gone unless you want vegan dal makhani soup!
- Lentils love to stick and burn, so I recommend stirring vigorously and often!
- If you do accidentally burn your lentils, don’t disturb the burned lower layer and pour off the rest of the dal makhni into another pot to continue the recipe.
🍽️Serving suggestions
Dal makhani is a filling lentil and kidney bean curry from the north of India and is perfect served with roti or naan bread.
It’s also amazing served over plain steamed basmati rice.
Add a dollop of plain unsweetened vegan or non-vegan yogurt, or serve tasty onion raita on the side. Honestly, it’s so rich that a bit of bread and/or rice is all you need.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
It’s a little high in fat to be considered truly healthy but does have plenty of fiber, B vitamins, iron, and protein, among other vitamins. Everything in moderation!
Leftovers will keep tightly covered in the fridge for up to five days, or three months in the freezer. The legumes will continue to release starch, so just loosen your curry with a little water if it’s too thick before reheating in the microwave or on the stovetop, and serving.
Dal is Punjabi for pulses, and makhani means butter. So this dish is really “butter lentils” or “butter beans/pulses”. Dal is also commonly used to refer to many Indian lentil based dishes such as dal tadka.
🍛More delicious vegan Indian recipes
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📖 Recipe
Easy Vegan Dal Makhani without soaking
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons sunflower oil or any neutral oil
- 1 large onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 green chili
- 1½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ Tablespoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 large pinch ground cinnamon
- 1 large pinch ground clove
- 1 large pinch ground nutmeg
- 2.5 cups cooked black or brown lentils 14 ounces or 400g
- 1 cup cooked kidney beans 7 ounces or 200g
- ½ cup canned crushed tomatoes
- 1½ cups vegetable stock 12 fluid ounces or 360 ml
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup coconut milk Use full fat coconut milk
- 1 – 1½ Tablespoons lemon juice to taste
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1½ Tablespoons vegan butter plant-based spread or dairy-free margarine
- 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Heat the sunflower oil (or any flavorless oil) on medium-high heat and brown the cumin seeds.
- Finely chop the onions, add and fry until golden and slightly brown at the edges, around 2-3 minutes.
- Finely chop the green chili pepper and crush the garlic and add. Fry two minutes more until the garlic doesn't smell "raw" anymore.
- Now add in the ground ginger, ground coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and fry for one more minute.
- Add the cooked lentils and kidney beans, canned crushed tomatoes, and vegetable stock.
- Cook ten minutes on medium-high, ten more on medium, add the salt, and cook a further ten on low until most of the liquid is gone. Stir often or the lentils will stick and burn.
- Add the coconut cream, lemon juice, and garam masala and stir well. Cook two minutes more.
- Stir in the chopped fresh cilantro and vegan butter just before serving, taste, and adjust the salt if necessary. Done!
Alessia
Bravo!! Delicious! And so quick! Usually have to spend the whole day making this! Thanks!
Deirdre Gilna
Delighted you enjoyed it Alessia, thanks so much for taking the time to leave feedback.
Jeff
Why is every ingredient listed twice?
Deirdre Gilna
Thank you for pointing that out, I’m not sure why that happened but I’ve fixed it now.