Dishoom's House Black Daal in an Instant Pot recipe

As soon as I got my Instant Pot (affiliate link) I knew I had to use it to make Dishoom’s House Black Daal. A lot of Instant Pot Daal Makhani recipes involve sautéing onions, garlic and spices in the Instant Pot, then adding liquid and dry lentils, then pressure cooking. This makes sense but the original recipe in the Dishoom cookbook does things in a different order, instructing you to:

1. Cook the lentils in a saucepan until soft (2-3 hours but this can take longer).
2. Drain off the cooking liquid, top up with fresh water, add butter and an aromatic paste of ginger, garlic, tomato purée and spices.
3. Cook on a high heat for 30 minutes, simmer for 1-1½ hours, add cream, simmer for 15 minutes.

I wanted to stay faithful to the recipe but use the Instant Pot to speed things up so I opted to:

1. Cook the lentils in an Instant Pot on high pressure for 30 minutes (water filled to halfway in the 5.7 litre/6 quart pot), then Quick Release the pressure.
2. Drain off the cooking liquid, add 1½ cups (375ml) of water and the aromatic paste, pressure cook on high for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the cream and butter then sauté on level 2 for 10 minutes.

The second photograph shows how it turned out. It tasted good but was unsurprisingly different to the hob version and was fairly thick as I only added 1½ cups (375ml) of water. The Instant Pot does a fantastic job of cooking the black lentils and I only soaked them for 10 minutes beforehand. I’ve never managed to achieve such soft, creamy lentils in a saucepan, even after soaking them for 24 hours. However, pressure cooking the paste and lentils together can’t rival the longer, slower cooking method so this daal ends up lighter in colour.

If time permits, I’d recommend using the Instant Pot to cook the lentils, then briefly sauté the paste, add the cooked lentils and fresh water back in, then slow cook the daal to achieve that wonderful deep colour and flavour.

Dishoom’s house black daal is famous for good reason and it’s a dish where time and effort reap great rewards. Pressure cooking decreases the cooking time but sacrifices some of the depth and flavour. Slow cooking bumps the cooking time back up but is mostly hands off and results in a dish that’s closer to the original recipe.

In my mind there are now five versions of Dishoom’s House Black Daal:

• The restaurant version cooked over 24 hours. A heavenly daal with unparalleled flavour - the colour is a deep, dark, brick red. The original and best.
• The cookbook version for home cooks, made on a hob. Roughly 5½ hours cooking time. Delicious but less depth of colour than the restaurant version due to the tomato paste only cooking for around 2 hours.
• The cookbook version, using an Instant Pot to pressure cook the lentils. The daal is then finished on a hob. 2½-3 hours cooking time in total. My favourite hob method.
• Instant Pot version 1 (second photo), which takes about an hour to cook and involves two lots of pressure cooking and some sautéing at the end. The finished daal is a light, golden brown. Use if you're really pushed for time.
• Instant Pot version 2 (first photo). Involves pressure cooking the lentils, a brief sauté, then slow cooking the daal. 5 hours minimum but mostly hands off. My favourite method for cooking the daal in an Instant Pot (instructions below).