Cheat’s Dhal Makhani using Charmaine Solomon’s Butter Chicken Marinade

The word ‘makhani’ in the title is in acknowledgement of the generous amount of butter used to finish this decadent dish of the Mughal empire.

I have indeed made this dhal makhani from scratch, starting the night before soaking whole urad dhal and kidney beans, cooking them for 2 hours and then beginning the curry. While it was quite wonderful, I just had to find a quicker way to make it without sacrificing the flavour. When my pressure cooker died, I was pushed towards taking the route of convenience over authenticity by substituting canned black turtle beans and canned kidney beans, some fine cracked wheat to thicken the sauce and yellow capsicum and corn kernels for the sheer heck of it.

It’s quite possible I’ll never go back to making it the traditional method.

1/3 cup fine cracked wheat

1 tablespoon ghee or oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium yellow capsicum, diced

1x 420g canned kidney beans, drained

1x 425g canned black beans, drained

1 cup frozen corn kernels

½ jar Charmaine Solomon’s Butter Chicken Marinade

¾ cup tomato puree

½ cup cream

3 tablespoons ghee (or butter) to finish

Small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped to garnish

*Ground chilli powder to taste if desired

Rinse the cracked wheat in fine sieve and then soak in 2/3 cup cold water while continuing with the recipe.

Heat the ghee in a medium size pan and slowly cook the onion until just translucent, about 10 minutes, add the capsicum and cook until it is slightly softened about another 5 minutes. Add all the drained beans, soaked cracked wheat, corn kernels and Butter Chicken Marinade, some extra chilli if you need more excitement in your life, and stir to combine. Add the tomato puree and the cream and cook until the cracked wheat is tender, approximately 15 minutes.

Stir in the extra ghee and when it has melted into the hot dhal, sprinkle over the chopped coriander. Serve hot with steamed basmati rice.