Instant Pot Dal Bukhara – Dump and Done Creamy Black lentils

Instant Pot Dal Bukhara – try this easy creamy black gram lentils made in the Instant Pot using my dump and done method. A rich, creamy whole black gram curry recipe made with tomato puree, vegan butter and cashew cream. Gluten-free, Soyfree easily Nutfree

Indian Dal Bukhara is an everyday and simpler version of dal makhani using minimal ingredients. Unlike dal makhani, which is made with black gram lentils and kidney beans, dal bukhara is made only with the whole urad lentils (black gram lentils) . Dal Bukhara is traditionally slow-cooked overnight  but we make a simple and quick version using the instant pot.

I made this super easy by 1. turning this into a dump-and-done recipe. There is no sautéing needed for this one! Just add everything to the instant pot, set and forget about it. 2. I also kept this dal onion and garlic free, as traditionally it can be made with or without, but you can add some if you like. The recipe depends on the chef and restaurant. To add some onion and garlic, Just sauté for 2-3 minutes, cancel sauté and proceed as the written recipe.

Onion and garlic are avoided by some for religious, dietary, yogic/Ayurvedic reasons. But sometimes they are simply skipped for reasons like their shorter shelf life once chopped. They get stale and smelly easily esp  with the tropical heat and no refrigeration, so Indian street food vendors and small restaurants often omit them.

I use canned tomato purée instead of fresh tomatoes to reduce the time and work needed even further! So just dump everything in the pot and pressure cook, no sautéing needed.

Once done, open the lid and fold in non-dairy cream or non-dairy yogurt and tomato purée. Bring to a boil and serve this creamy dreamy dal. There are so many lentils and pulses and so many ways to make them based on different state and regional cuisines in India. Explore the Dals on the blog and also check out 22 Dals in my first book and another 14 in my upcoming instant pot book.

why will you love this instant pot dal bukhara recipe

• It uses 8 main ingredients!
• its a dump and done recipe. No standing around sautéing needed. Just add all ingredients to the pot, set it and forget it
• It’s Glutenfree and Soyfree and easily made nutfree
• its creamy and delicious and tastes like a decadent restaurant dish!

See recipe notes if using lentils other than black gram lentils (urad). Usually this dal is smoked using a charcoal (dungar method) . For the additional smoky flavor, fold in a bit of smoked paprika.

This recipe is adapted from Dal Bukhara recipe from my Indian kitchen cookbook and  chef Sanjyot Keer’s  Dal Bukhara recipe .

More dal recipes:

• Handi Lentils
• Masoor Dal Tadka
• Spicy Urad dal
• Turmeric spinach dal- no onion garlic
• Hariyali dal- spiced greens and lentils 

Instant Pot Dal Bukhara

5 from 28 votes

By: Vegan Richa

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 1 hour hr

Soak time: 8 hours hrs

Total: 9 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Servings: 6

Course: Main

Cuisine: Indian

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Instant Pot Dal Bukhara - try this easy creamy black lentils made in the Instant Pot using my dump and done method. A rich, slow-cooked whole black gram curry recipe made with tomato puree, vegan butter and vegan cream. Gluten-free Soyfree , easily Nutfree

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Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

For the dal:

• ▢ 1 cup whole urad, (black gram lentils/black matpe beans), soaked overnight or atleast 4 hours. You can also use mung beans instead, see recipe notes for other lentil cooking time
• ▢ 2 1/2 cups water
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds crushed, (preferably toasted)
• ▢ 1 inch ginger minced
• ▢ 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, or Kashmiri chili powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garam masala, use less or more to preference
• ▢ 1/8 teaspoon asafoetida or hing, see recipe notes for substitutes
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves, kasoori methi
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/4 cup tomato puree

For adding later:

• ▢ 3/4 cup tomato puree(canned), or unseasoned tomato sauce/passata.
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
• ▢ 1 tablespoon vegan butter
• ▢ 1/4-1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika , (see notes for other smoky options)
• ▢ 1/4 cup non-dairy cream such as cashew cream or non dairy yogurt, use coconut cream or coconut yogurt for Nutfree.

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Instructions 

• Oil the instant pot in the bottom because some pots can heat up unevenly and the lentils might stick.
• Then add all of the dal ingredients to the pot and mix well. Close the lid and pressure cook at bean mode at high pressure for 50 minutes or pressure cook at pressure cook mode at 50 minutes.
• Let the pressure release naturally then open the lid. Add in the tomato puree, salt, fenugreek leaves, optional smoked paprika and butter and mix well.
• Start saute and keep cooking until the mixture comes to a boil. Then add in the non-dairy cream or yogurt and mix in.
• Let it simmer for another minute. Mash some of the beans using your spatula. Mash them between the spatula and the side of the pot.  Taste and adjust salt and flavor switch off the saute.
• If the consistency is not thick enough then you can saute for a few more minutes. Usually, this dal gets really thick after sitting so you want to keep a little bit of liquid in the dal. Or if you want it to be thinner, you can add some water or non-dairy milk and continue sauteing to bring it to a boil.
• Then remove the inner pot from the instant pot so that the dal doesn't stick to the bottom plate which is going to stay hot even after you switched off the saute.
• Serve it topped with some more non-dairy cream and cilantro and pepperflakes. A dash of lemon juice also goes well with the dal. Serve with roti, Naan, flatbread (regular or glutenfree) or rice or even garlic bread.
• Storage: Store refrigerated for upto 3 days. Freeze for upto 2 months.

Video

Notes

• Love this recipe? Get my instant pot book!!
• For brown or green lentils, pressure cook on bean mode for 25 minutes. For mung beans or beluga lentils, pressure cook 40 minutes. For small beans like adzuki, pressure cook 40 minutes.
• Oil-free : omit the oil and butter.
• Toast the cumin seeds on a skillet until fragrant and then crush and use. This is optional. You can just add untoasted seeds or use 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin. 
• Stovetop saucepan: cook the lentils with the ingredients listed and 4 cups water for 1 hour or longer, partially covered, until lentils are tender to preference. Then follow the rest of the recipe for adding the remaining ingredients and mashing the dal while mixing 
• Urad comes in 3 forms. The whole lentil/bean(Sabut Urad), split lentil with skin(Urad dal Chilka) and split without skin(white Urad dal). Most lentils and beans come in these 3 formats in Indian stores. You can see in the pictures that the recipe uses whole version. Depending on the shop they use English naming differently - black lentils or Indian black beans or black matpe beans.
  You can use the split version in the recipe as well, just pressure cook for 11 minutes.
• Stovetop pressure cooker: Pressure cook with 3 cups of water over medium heat for 15 minutes then medium low for 10-20 minutes. 
• Add more smoky ness: toast regular paprika or fenugreek leaves on a skillet until toasty then add in. 
• Tomato purée: I use canned tomato purée here. If you are using fresh tomatoes, purée them and cook in a skillet for 6-8 mins to thicken and then use 

This is a no onion garlic recipe. If you want to add onion and garlic, you can add in the beginning before adding the dal ingredients. Saute the onion and garlic a little bit and then add in all of the dal ingredients and then continue with the pressure cook process.

Hing ( asafeetida) substitute: hing is used as a garlic substitute. If you don't have any hing, just omit it. There's enough flavor in the dal even without it. You can add in a teaspoon of miso instead to keep it onion garlic free or add garlic. 

Nutrition

Calories: 142kcal, Carbohydrates: 20g, Protein: 9g, Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 330mg, Potassium: 226mg, Fiber: 8g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 490IU, Vitamin C: 6mg, Calcium: 46mg, Iron: 4mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Did you make this recipe? Rate and comment below!

Ingredients:

• black gram lentils – whole Urad dal makes the best dal Bukhara
• turmeric, cumin, ginger, smoked paprika, garam masala and asafoetida are added along with, dried fenugreek leaves, salt and tomato puree
• after the lentils are cooked, we add tomato puree, salt, and fenugreek leaves
• vegan butter and non-dairy cream such as cashew cream or yogurt are added for creaminess. This is a rich recipe and to get the real taste I would not suggest reducing the non-dairy cream or butter.

Tips:

• This is a no onion garlic recipe. If you want to add onion and garlic, you can add in the beginning before adding the dal ingredients. Saute the onion and garlic a little bit and then add in all of the dal ingredients and then continue with the pressure cook process.
• Hing or asafeetida is used as a garlic substitute. If you don’t have any hing, just omit it. There’s enough flavor in the dal even without it. You can also add in a teaspoon of miso instead to keep it onion garlic free.
• For brown or green lentils, pressure cook on bean mode for 25 minutes. For mung beans or beluga lentils, pressure cook 40 minutes. For small beans like adzuki, pressure cook 40 minutes.
• Oil-free : omit the oil and butter.
• cumin seeds and substitute: Toast the cumin seeds on a skillet until fragrant and then crush and use. This is optional. You can just add in untoasted seeds or toast them in oil over sauté before dumping other ingredients or use 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin instead

How to make Vegan Instant Pot Dal Bukhara

Oil the instant pot in the bottom because some pots can heat up unevenly and the lentils might stick.

Then add all of the dal ingredients to the pot and mix well. Close the lid and pressure cook at bean mode for 50 minutes or pressure cook at pressure cook mode at 50 minutes.

Let the pressure release naturally then open the lid. Add in the tomato puree, salt, fenugreek leaves, and butter and mix well.

Start saute and keep cooking until the mixture comes to a boil. Then add in the non-dairy cream or yogurt and mix in.

Let it simmer for another minute. Mash some of the beans using your spatula. Mash them between the spatula and the side of the pot. Taste and adjust salt and flavor switch off the saute.

If the consistency is not thick enough then you can saute for a few more minutes. Usually this dal gets very thick after sitting for a bit, so you want to keep a little bit of liquid in the dal. Or if you want it to be thinner, you can add some water or non-dairy milk and continue sauteing to bring it to a boil.

Then remove the inner pot from the instant pot so that the dal doesn’t stick to the bottom plate which is going to stay hot even after you switched off the saute.

How to serve dal bukhara

Serve it topped with some more non-dairy cream and cilantro and pepperflakes. A dash of lemon juice also goes well with the dal.

I like to serve this with roti, Naan, flatbread (regular or glutenfree) or rice or even garlic bread.

Why is this dal cooked for so long

Dals and beans are often cooked much longer than their usual required times in Indian cuisine. The expected dal is supposed to be creamy not all because of added cream but also because  of the broken down lentils. This is also a feature of dishes like Chana masala. Cook for a long time, mash some and make a creamy saucy result!