British Dal Makhani

Method

1. Drain the beans and then place them in a large saucepan with the lentils, turmeric, chillies, garlic and ginger. Cover with water by about 5 cm and bring up to the boil. Cover and bubble away for 10 minutes before lowering the heat to a gentle simmer.
2. Check the pot from time to time, topping up with a little more water when necessary although the idea is to finish up with quite a thick dal (this will take about 45 minutes to an hour - you are waiting for the haricots to become creamy and soft by which time the lentils will be beginning to collapse).
3. Once the beans are cooked you want to purée about a third of them. I find it easiest to do this with a stick blender, it’s traditionally done with the back of a ladle and plenty of elbow grease (a potato masher would do the trick too).
4. Melt the ghee or butter in a frying pan and begin by frying the spices, once your enveloped in a cloud of wonderful smells throw in the onion too. Cook the onion over a low flame for about 10 minutes until wonderfully soft and then it’s time to add the garlic, stirring for a couple of minutes before tipping in the tomatoes and purée.
5. Stir the spicy tomato mix into the dal along with a good pinch of salt.
6. The icing on the cake
   The dal will taste pretty good right now and you could just serve it with a dollop of yoghurt if you like, just don’t call it Dal Makahni. If you’re going for full blown indulgence now’s the time to stir in the butter, the cream and a good teaspoon of garam masala.
7. Taste, add more salt or chilli to balance. Sprinkle with fresh coriander and serve.