Rajma masala/ Rajma chaval/ Red kidney bean curry

Rajma masala/ Rajma chaval/ Red kidney bean curry
Red kidney beans cooked with Indian spices.

Rajma Masala/Red kidney bean curry/ Rajma Chaval

Rajma chaval is one of those delicious comfort foods that gets cooked rather quickly and easily (by that I mean around 20 min if you have a pressure cooker). Honestly I haven’t met one person till day who doesn’t eat rajma chaval.

Rajma Masala/Red kidney bean curry

Using a pressure cooker to cook in India is such a common thing and possibly why home cooking is so popular.  And believe me if  using a pressure cooker was very common in this country people wouldn’t be scared to cook, it cuts down cooking and sautéing time and you can make tasty one  pot meals in a jiffy.  No, I am not justifying my use of a pressure cooker as you could still make this recipe without having one. All I am trying to say is  I love my pressure cooker and I can cook a zillion dishes under  15min in a cooker but let’s just leave that for some other post.

Like any other pulses, rajma/kidney beans would need to be soaked overnight but I just leave some canned ones for days when I run out of time and veggies.  A dish very similar to cholle, chickpea masala but this one’s way quicker and I have not used any fried onions. I have only added the grinding step to make it a more restaurant style rajma masala. Of course you could go all out and add cream and butter if you like but I totally skipped it.

If you make extra masala ( onion and tomato masala) you could freeze it/store in the fridge for a week and use it later to make any other dish to name a few paneer, chickpeas, black eyed beans or anything of your choice. So here’s your super easy and versatile dish.

Serves:  2

Ingredients:

Kidney beans/ Rajma canned - 2 cups / 240 gm (drained weight)

3 small onions diced

3 small tomatoes finely chopped

1 tbsp. minced ginger

5 cloves garlic minced

1 small green chilly minced

Spices:

1 tsp. cumin seeds

½ tsp. Hing/ Asafetida

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp. or to taste Kashmiri red chilly powder

A tiny pinch of kasoori methi/dry fenugreek leaves

1 tsp. Garam masala

½ tsp Dry mango powder/ amchoor.

Salt to taste

3 tbsp. oil

Method:

1.       Heat oil in a pressure cooker or in a sauce pan, add cumin seeds allow spluttering, add in the onions and sauté along with ginger garlic and chilly. Once browned add in tomatoes. Add spices (chilly, turmeric, asafetida) and half tsp of salt and pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles or cook until tender and mushy.

2.       Let the pressure settle down,   using a hand blender or a grinder grind the cooked onion tomato to a thin paste like consistency ( using a 2 to 3 tbsp. of water, it should be of thicker consistency)

3.       To this add canned Rajma/kidney beans pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles or for 20 min until rajma is soft and easy to mash with a spoon.

4.       Once cooked, adjust the seasoning and add crushed dry fenugreek leaves, garam masala and dry mango powder, stir well. I opted for a thicker consistency you can dilute it by adding more water and simmering it.

Serve hot with Rice or Phulka.