Why dal makhani became the centre of a food debate online: ‘Tweaked it far too much’

3 min readNew DelhiJun 14, 2026 10:00 PM IST

The celebrity chef created a non-vegetarian version of dal makhani (Photo: Pexels)

Former MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris recently shared his version of dal makhani, giving it a non-vegetarian twist by adding chicken stock cubes.

Calombaris demonstrated the recipe in an Instagram Reel, sparking criticism from several users who accused him of “ruining” dal makhani, despite his own admission that the recipe deviates from the traditional method.

In the now-viral video, the chef repeatedly clarified that his version was “not authentic,” but described it as “delicious and cheap to make.”

“Today we’re going to cook my version, and I’ll repeat, my version of dal makhani,” Calombaris said in the video. The recipe featured ingredients and techniques that differ from the slow-cooked Punjabi classic. He used finely diced onion, garlic, ginger, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, Kashmiri chilli, garam masala, butter, a small amount of tomato, soaked lentils, and chicken stock cubes.

His cooking method involved partially cooking the lentils first before simmering them with aromatics and spices for around 20 to 25 minutes until thickened.

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“You have a lot of non vegetarian food already why make something authentic vegetarian dish into a non vegetarian dish by using chicken stock???” a user commented. “Chicken Stock!!!! It’s absolutely a hardcore non-vegetarian person’s recipe… And it’s not black whole lentils rt?? You tweaked it far far too much, I guess you should name this daal something else, it’s not a version of dal. makhani in any which way,” another user commented.

Dal makhani in shaping reputation of restaurants

Celebrity chef Gautam Kumar shared his insights on the backlash, noting that dal makhani is often considered one of the defining dishes of Indian cuisine in hotels and restaurants, with many diners judging the quality of an outlet by the standard of its preparation. He stressed that the dish plays a major role in shaping the reputation of restaurants serving Indian food.

Explaining the origin of the dish, Chef Kumar shared that the popularity of dal makhani in fine dining expanded significantly after ITC Maurya introduced its famous “Dal Bukhara,” inspiring many hotels and restaurants to create their own versions of the dish.

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“People often judge the quality of Indian food in a hotel or restaurant by the standard of its dal makhani. In many ways, dal makhni plays nearly a 50% role in building or damaging the reputation of an outlet,” Chef Kumar said.

Despite its popularity, Kumar acknowledged that dal makhani is not considered a particularly healthy dish due to the use of a large amount of butter and cream, which make it calorie-dense.