Soak the black gram for 4 hours or overnight and pressure cook till soft.
While pressure cooking, make sure you add 4 cups of water to 1 cup of lentils and a little salt. Because these lentils absorb a lot of water while cooking. Do not drain the water.
Take butter/ oil in a pan and heat it. The name Dal Makhani itself suggests it is made of butter, but you can substitute it with oil to suit your diet.
Now, add jeera to the oil and let it splutter.
Then add turmeric and ginger garlic paste and sauté till cooked. This dal makhani recipe will need little extra ginger garlic paste when compared to other contemporary recipes.
Blend tomatoes to a fine texture and keep aside.
Once the ginger garlic paste is cooked, add the tomato paste and cook till oil comes out.
Add the cooked black gram along with the cooking liquor to the cooked gravy and cook for 5 min.
Add chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, salt and simmer.
Cook on a slow flame for at least 15 - 20 min while stirring intermittently. Let the black gram absorb all the masala. Check the taste and add some more salt if needed.
Add cream and turn off the flame and garnish with coriander and serve hot.