For all my friends, who love the Rajma at my place, I had to post this recipe. Rajma or Kidney beans curry, is a popular dish in a Punjabi household. I have hardly come across anyone who does not like Rajma Chawal . My daughter loves it and when ever I make it , I make a little extra for her to eat the next day as well, as she is sure to ask!
One of my friends who travels from Delhi for work to Bangalore every few months, and stays here for a week, requests for rajma rice on every visit. Even with my friends from South India it is very popular and I carry it for lunch for a colleague who comes from Chennai. Yes, I have become a lunch supplier for many of my friends.
A neighbour who had Rajma at my place once asked me the recipe. Later she told me ” But I never get it the way, you make it. What is the secret? ” My secret is “Love and Patience”. Cooking needs a lot of patience. There are no short cuts. In most of the indian curries the frying of the spices and onion etc requires slow flame, and trust me it makes a lot of difference.
When I was learning to cook my mother could tell, from outside the kitchen, if the onion / garlic paste was roasted well or not. At that time I used to complain that how come without seeing you can say it is not done. But now I understand, she could assess it by the simmering noise. If there is water in the onions, it will simmer and make a slight noise. Another thing that I learnt was that each recipe required onions etc to be chopped in a certain way and this made a huge difference in the outcome. For Rajma, Chole etc we need onion garlic paste that is fried on a slow flame. Why I say slow flame is because on high flame it will turn brown but will not cook well.
Rajma – Chawal is an inseparable combination, but it also goes well with Paratha. As a kid we used to love eating leftover Rajma with bread.
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 60 minutes |
| Passive Time | 480 minutes |
| Servings |
serving
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- 1 cup rajma white / chitra *
- 1.5 tablespoons oil
- 2 onions medium size
- 7 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tablespoon fenugreek dry leaves ( kasuri methi )
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder red
- 1 large tomatoe pureed
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala powder
- to taste salt
- water
- Rajma as it cooks quicker and also mixes well with the gravy. The red rajma * I prefer using Chitra or White takes longer to cook and also deos not mix well with the gravy
Ingredients
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- Wash and soak the rajma for 6 hours or over night
- In a pressure cooker cook rajma with 500ml water and salt. Lower the flame after first whistle and then wait for another two - three whistles.
- Make onion and garlic paste in a mixer. Do not add water.
- Take the oil in a pan and heat it. Add onion garlic paste and fry it on slow flame. Adding more oil will make it easier to fry but for health reasons I would suggest using lesser oil and more patience.
- Keep stirring for 2-3 minutes, till the onion garlic paste has turned brown, and starts leaving oil on the edges of the pan.
- Add fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) and fry for two three minutes. ( You can dry roast fenugreek leaves, powder them and store it. It will be quicker and easier to cook )
- Add coriander powder and chilli powder and fry.
- Add pureed tomato and fry till there is oil on the edges of the pan.
- Once the rajma is cooked (it should be easily squashed between the finger tips) add the above masala to rajma and boil. Add more water if required to adjust the consistency
- Before serving, sprinkle garam masala and fresh coriander leaves
I would love to hear from you on how the recipe turned out for you, please leave a comment and rate it.
Paluk evn i n harish love having it wd dosa😃!!! … Rather wd anything or js plain rajma 😋😋
This is amazing! i love rajma and i am so gonna try this recipe.
Thank you so much for sharing