Slow cooker Dal Makhani

This recipe satisfied two wishes for me. One was to make more desi food in the slow cooker and the second was to make more vegetarian food in the slow cooker. Since dal makhani is slow cooked to begin with, the transition to the slow cooker seems like the natural evolution. For this recipe I looked at this, this and this for inspiration. I'm not sure if the kashmiri red chillis actually do anything, but I have them and I like using them. The one criticism I had of my finished daal was that it didn't have a smokey flavour. If I do this again I will add a dash of smoked paprika to add this. This is reflected in the recipe below.

Ingredients

First Step:

• 1.5 cups whole black urad daal
• 3 tbsp channa dal
• 3 tbsp ghee 
• 2.5 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tsp salt
• 6 cups water
• 2 whole Kashmiri red chillis

Second Step:

• 2 cans red kidney beans
• 1 can pureed tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
• 3/4 tsp garam masala
• 1.5 tsp roasted cumin powder
• 2.5 tbsp kasuri methi 
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp amchoor powder 
• 3-4 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp black salt 
• 1.5 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Before serving:

• 1 cup cream
• cilantro- fresh or frozen

Instructions

1. Wash the daals and add them to the slow cooker with all the ingredients in step 1. 
2. Cook on low overnight. For me this amounted to about 9 hours.
3. Mash the daal a bit with the back of the spoon and then add all the ingredients in step 2.
4. Cook on low for a further 4-6 hours.
5. The dal is now ready. I usually add the cream right before I serve.