Masala Rajma (Red kidney beans curry)

 

                                       

Hello Friends

I hope you all are keeping well.

Welcome to easy cooking blog no. 8

Introduction

Today’s recipe is a popular north Indian dish but equally loved in other parts of India as well. It is commonly known as “MASALA RAJMA’’ or “KIDNEY BEANS CURRY”.

There are different types of beans available in the market like sugar beans, white beans, dotted beans that can be used to prepare curries. However, I have chosen red kidney beans curry for my blog because I find it tastier than other beans of this family particularly when cooked in Punjabi style.

As I have mentioned earlier, it is an authentic North Indian dish and it used to be our staple diet while growing up. This curry goes best with the hot steamed rice (chawal), which is why our special events were incomplete without this rajma chawal combo.

Being a Punjabi, I binged on this delectable combo and continued this ritual of making this curry on special occasions, even on regular days, or when inviting friends over even here in South Africa. So, this dish is always on my menu.

Being a rich source of protein, it is highly nutritious (high fibre source) curry that is generally cooked with certain vegetables, herbs and spices. So let me quickly show you the ingredients that we need to make this curry. This recipe is perfect for vegans and due to its low glycaemic index, it does not produce much sugars in the body. 

Check out other interesting recipes link given below!

Nutri ki sabzi (soya chunk curry)

Baigun bharta (eggplant curry)

Aloo gobhi ki sabzi (cauliflower potato curry)

Masala anda curry (egg curry)

Kaddu ki khati meethi sabzi (pumpkin curry)

                                                     

                                                     

Ingredients                                                                      qty

Rajma/red kidney beans                                                1 cup            

Onion (finely chopped/ grated)                                     2 medium sized               

Garlic (finely chopped/grated)                                      5-6 large pods

Ginger (finely chopped/grated)                                     as per taste

Tomato (finely chopped/pureed)                                  2 medium sized

Green chilli (finely chopped)                                          as per taste

Cumin seeds                                                                    1 tbsp

Coriander seeds                                                              1 tbsp

Asafoetida                                                                        a pinch of it

Turmeric                                                                           1 tbsp

Degi mirch(optional)                                                       1 tsp

Red chilli powder                                                            as per taste

Kasturi methi (optional)                                                  1 tbsp

Salt                                                                                 as per taste

Oil                                                                                   2-3 tbsp

Garam masala                                                                 1 tsp

COOKING TIME: under 60 minutes (including boiling of rajma)

Procedure

The two methods I use to make this curry are discussed below:

Method 1

Step 1: Soaking

Take 1 cup of raw red kidney beans/rajma, rinse them well with freshwater couple of times.

Take a large bowl, add the rinsed rajma to it and fill it with fresh water. We need to soak the rajma for at least 8 hours. What I do, I soak them overnight and use them the next day. During hot weather, we should not soak them for more than 8 hours; rajma can become sticky and smelly.

                                   

Step 2: Boiling

After soaking overnight, rinse the rajma once, add to the pressure cooker, pour 3 cups of water, cook them for 3 to 4 whistles, and later turn the heat on medium; cook for at least 20 to 30 minutes. 

Release the pressure from the pressure cooker and check the rajma by taking the bean and pressing it between the fingers. If it breaks effortlessly, it is done or if you find them a bit hard, cook them again for 2 to 3 whistles. Once the rajma is cooked well, keep them aside.

 

Step 3: Preparation

Take a deep pan, add oil or ghee and let it heat up; add a bay leaf, cumin seeds, asafoetida, coriander seeds and let them sizzle.

Add onions and cook until they are soft and translucent. Then add ginger and garlic, cook until their raw smell fades away or turn golden brown.

Add tomatoes and cook them until soft; add all the desired spices and cook everything together for about 10 minutes once the oil starts oozing from the gravy.

                                       

Later add the boiled rajma and sauté them well so that rajma absorbs all the flavours and spices beautifully. Add boiled water (the water used to boil the rajma in step 1) into the curry and cook it for another 20 to 25 minutes on low flame or heat. Adjust the consistency of the curry according to your preference-if too runny evaporate the extra water or add boiled water if too thick.

Add garam masala in the end and your curry is ready to be served.

Method 2

This method is unique because it is invented by my husband. I had never eaten or cooked rajma like this ever before. It was only when I flew to South Africa and my husband made this rajma chawal meal for us one day. The taste was different altogether. I asked him how he made it. He later revealed that he added a secret ingredient and modified the normal procedure a bit.

Take a pan, add oil or ghee and add carrom seeds. Yes, you heard it right! ½ tsp of carrom seeds, let them sputter and add chopped garlic and cook the garlic until it turns slight brown, or the raw smell of it fades away.

Now add onions, ginger, and the rest of the procedure is the same as mentioned above in 1st method.

Note: As rajma (beans) are high on proteins. Carrom seeds make it easy to digest and prevent bloating

To garnish rajma curry

While serving this delicious curry sprinkle some fresh coriander leaves.

This curry can be pair up with Chopped red onions with a dash of lemon juice.

You can add some clarified butter/ ghee on hot steamed rice before indulging in this mouth-watering rajma chawal combo. It not only enhances the flavours but also accelerate the digestion process. As we all know, beans high in proteins, and this virtue makes them difficult to digest as well.

Serving suggestions

Rajma goes beautifully well with plain steamed white, brown, basmati rice or any rice. I like to have it with plain steamed rice and jeera rice at times.

But of course, it goes equally well with lightly toasted bread, any naan, paratha and poori.

To make this a complete meal, you can pair it. I like to have this with Bondi raita (spiced curd) as a side dish, along with onions and pickle.

Whenever I have friends and family over, I make this rajma chawal and aloo gobhi ki sabzi along with poori (cauliflower potato). It makes a complete main course meal.

It tastes equally good in the form of salad, take half a cup of boiled kidney beans, add the vegetables of your choice, some nuts and seeds you as per your likeness, a dash of lime juice, some honey, salt as per taste mix everything well, and your delicious and healthy salad is ready.

 

Tips and tricks

Always soak the fresh raw kidney beans for at least 8 hours to make the best rajma curry. Soaking for a minimum of 8 hours helps rajma to cook quickly and aids in digestion as well. Always discard the soaked water before boiling the rajma; use fresh water for boiling them.

You can finely chop onions and other vegetables for the masala or just grind them in a grinder to make a fine paste. Both ways curry turns out different, texture and the taste will be different. 

Before boiling the rajma in a pressure cooker, do not forget to add half a teaspoon of salt. This step will help to make the rajma cook fast and nicely. Rajma will absorb the salt uniformly, avoiding the bland taste of Rajma (Make sure you add salt carefully in the curry).

Once you add the rajma and its water (used for boiling rajma) into the curry, Cook this for about 20 to 25 minutes on simmer; the more you cook it, the tastier curry you will get. Cooking on low heat is the trick to make smooth and thick rajma curry.

Add ghee before having this combo. It not only enhances the flavour but only makes it easy to digest this protein-based meal.

There are different types of kidney beans available in the market like whole broad beans, sugar beans, dotted light pink beans and red kidney beans. All taste different. I particularly love red kidney beans. Red kidney beans are further of two types of small beans and large beans.

 

Do give it a try, and I bet you will fall in love with this recipe. It is perfect for vegans, and it has a low glycaemic index too, it is a Healthy as well as tasty recipe.

Thank you!

Neha