Michelin Star Indian Chef Reveals How To Make The Perfect Dal | My Greatest Dishes

Trailblazing chef Atul Kutcha has revolutionized Indian cuisine. Combining traditional cooking techniques with his use of seasonal British produce, he has spearheaded the modern Indian food scene in the UK, becoming the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star. When somebody seats you in front of you and says, can you tell me your four dishes? I want to give 400, but you're asking only four. So it was a bit of a juggle. I had far too many things to give, but I picked up the four which I love most. The first one is dal makhani, which is inspired by my mom. It's a black lentil, which is simmered slowly for a long period of time. Passion for cooking, I think, comes from the family. Dad, mom, granddad, sisters, they all are great cooks, except my younger brother, who always said, when so many people can cook, somebody needs to eat all that food. And eating is still his passion, to be honest. Bless him. A little bit of ginger. I'd rather keep the skin of the ginger as well because it lends a lot of flavor. But if you're finicky, like my mom would be, then please scrape it off. Chili, I will just remove the stalk and cut that into half. The red kidney bean can go in. My family came from North India and I was born and bred in Jamshedpur, which is an industrial town. The only part of my life I didn't like, my mom was a school teacher in the same school where I went. And that was the only bad part. Mom, I'm really sorry I'm saying this, but the rest of it was fun. Now, how much water to add to this lentil? There is no real science behind it, but I follow a simple rule. Keep it about at least one inch above the level of the lentil. A pinch of salt in an open pot like this, as mom used to cook. And I also prefer it like this. It'll take at least 90 minutes, easily. I have beautiful memories around this pot of dal being brewed, stewed in the house. And the whole house would linger with this beautiful nutty flavor of dal. And wherever I was in the house, I could smell that dal makhani is coming on the table tonight and I would salivate all day. I have to make seasoning stroke masala to go into the dal to make it dal makhani. Everybody says that it's called dal makhani because the word makhan means butter in Hindi. It's true, there's a lot of butter in there, but it's called dal makhani because of its consistency, its flavor, its taste. I still remember the day when I started cooking this with my mom first time. She would make me wash that lentil first for hours. And then she would say, okay, now we need to put them for boiling. Chopping, peeling, scraping, all that was part of me growing up in my mom's kitchen. As a cook, my job is to extract the flavor of the essential oils in the spices into the cooking oil. And that's what I do. I bring the oil to the right temperature, which is just below the smoking point, and then add the cumin or whichever spice I'm using and it crackles immediately. Add all the onions. You've got to know your onions to cook Indian food. Now the powdered spices, coriander powder, the red chili powder. The powdered spices get burned very fast. Hurry up from here and then cook it through. Okay, now the tomatoes kind of start disintegrating, and that's the time I can start bringing in the lentil. You don't drain it because you need all that water in here. From here, this takes half an hour to 45 minutes. Being with my dad, being with my granddad, being with my mother, my siblings, I think life was just so beautiful. We didn't have a lot in terms of economics. We didn't have a dining table at home, so we used to joke with each other, spread the dining table. And that was the newspaper on the floor, and the whole food would come there and we'll sit cross-legged. But whatever little we had, it was just enough to enjoy life, be with each other. Now it has simmered enough. Nice creamy texture coming through. Now is the time I add the rest of the ingredients. So just bring the heat down, right down. Butter goes first in there. And then it's about 200 ml of single cream. Also, the garam masala. Never add garam masala right in the beginning. The spices have been toasted first and then powdered. So they're already cooked. Now, final ingredient, the fenugreek leaves. Becomes a nice green powder. That goes in. Okay, mix that through. This is looking nice and creamy. So let's serve. It looks exactly the way my mum would cook it. I would say that it tastes exactly the same as well. But I know my mum would disagree. She'll say, mine tastes much better, Atul.