Spicy Black Lentils Soup (Daal Makkhani)

Daal Makkhani is one more traditional Indian recipe, from northern India in particular. It is a dark, thick and creamy soup, with spices, flavored at the end of cooking with some butter and caraway seeds.  Τhe spicy and fragrant soup with black lentils will warm you on cold winter nights. If you like spices, this recipe is for you!

Traditionally, the soup gets its creamy texture from heavy cream. In my version of the soup I made a small change and I used yoghurt 2%, which, although it is low in fat, it gives a “robust” texture to the soup. Moreover, instead of adding the whole ½ cup of yoghurt in the pan at the end of cooking I add it on each plate, at serving time, to decorate.

Lentils are rich in protein, fiber and folic acid, and have few calories. We have already talked about black beluga lentils in the recipe for Black Lentils with Smoked Eggplant and Chille Jam. They have an earthier flavor than common lentils and boil more quickly because they are slightly smaller. They have, however, anthocyanins, a valuable antioxidant that is found in blueberries and bilberries, which help protect cells from damage caused by free radicals and thus protects against various cancers. Like all legumes, black lentils are rich in vitamins and minerals. Moreover, ¼ cup black lentils contain 9 grams of fiber!

Preparation time:   50 minutes

Servings:   5-6

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (250 g.) black lentils
• 2 large onions, cut into thin slices, divided into two parts
• ¼ teaspoon chile flakes
• 2 large tomatoes, cut into small cubes
• 5 cm. fresh ginger root, grated
• 3 large cloves garlic, crushed, divided into two parts
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup yoghurt 2%, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Boil the lentils in 4 cups of water, with 1 sliced ​​onion, half the amount of garlic and some salt until soft, about 30-35 minutes. Drain the lentils but keep their broth.
2. In another pot, heat olive oil and saute the onion for 2 minutes, until tender.
3. Add garlic and ginger and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, cilantro, cumin, cayenne pepper, chile flakes and smoked paprika and continue to sauté for another 4-5 minutes.
4. At this point add the boiled lentils and enough of their broth to have a thick mixture. Stir and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat.
6. Taste and add some more salt if needed. In this step, you can puree the soup in the food processor, if desired. I didn’t.
7. In a small frying pan, heat the butter until melted and when hot add the caraway seeds and roast until they stop spluttering. Keep some of the seeds aside, to decorate, and add the rest to the soup and stir well.
8. Serve the soup warm. Using two spoons you make yogurt balls and put one in each dish, on the soup. Complete the decoration of the dish with the stored caraway seeds and with some smoked paprika.

Enjoy your meal!

Nutritional Facts per Serving
Calories	Carbohydrates	Sugars	Total Fat	Saturated Fat	Proteins	Dietary Fibers	Cholesterol
180.8	15.4	0.1	11.1	3.4	6.1	4.5	10.4mg