Rajma Chawal

Yeah that's the name of my post for the Rajma recipe my friend taught met. She insisted that Rajma is to be eaten with Chawal (rice) only and not with chapattis. I agree with her.

My friend is a Punjabi and this Rajma recipe is as authentic as it can be, ofcourse different households will have different versions of it. The recipe uses simple ingredients with no garam masala or any other type of spice powder and yet its so flavourful. Try it and you'll really enjoy the dish.

Ingredients

1 cup Red Kidney Beans

1 medium Red Onion

3 medium Tomatoes (or 2 large ones)

2 Tbsp Oil

2 cloves of Garlic

1.5 inches long Ginger

2 Green Chillies ( or Jalapenos to taste)

1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)

Pinch of turmeric powder

Salt (to taste)

Procedure

Soak red kidney beans overnight. Change the water in the morning and pressure cook it adding some salt to the beans. Alternately, you can also use canned red kidney beans, just wash them before you use. Peel and cut the red onion into thin semi-circles. Put 1.5 tbsp of the oil into a pan and add the cut onions. Let them brown and try to separate them into rings using a spatula (spoon). Meanwhile grate the tomatoes. Mash the garlic, ginger and green chillies to a smooth paste. After the onions are browned, set them aside and in the same pan add the rest of the oil. To the oil add the cumin seeds and the ginger-garlic-green chillies paste. Stir and after a minute add the grated tomatoes and turmeric powder. Let the tomato mixture come to a boil to ensure that the tomatoes are cooked. Then add the pressure cooked beans and mash a few of the beans in the pan itself. Let the contents of the pan come to a boil, check for salt. Transfer the contents to vessel (which you can use in the pressure cooker) and sprinkle the browned onions to the beans. Pressure cook once again for 1 whistle. When cooled sprinkle chopped cilantro. Serve it with warm Basmati or Sona Masoori rice. Yummy. Too good.