Its important to soak the rajma or kidney beans overnight or for 8-9 hours and then cook them thoroughly to give the curry a melt-in-you-mouth texture.
By Dassana Amit
Rajma Masala
Its important to soak the rajma or kidney beans overnight or for 8-9 hours and then cook them thoroughly to give the curry a melt-in-you-mouth texture.
- Prep Time: 9 hours
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 9 hours 45 mins
- Yield: 2-3 1x
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup rajma or kidney beans (any variety)
- 1 large onion or pyaaz
- 2 medium to large tomatoes or tamatar
- 3–4 garlic + 1 inch ginger + 1 green chili – crushed to a paste in a mortar-pestle
- 1 tsp coriander powder or dhania powder
- ¼ to ½ tsp red chili powder or lal mirch powder
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder or haldi powder
- a pinch of asafoetida or hing (optional)
- ¼ tsp to ½ tsp garam masala powder
- ½ tsp cumin seeds or jeera
- 1 tsp kasuri methi or dry fenugreek leaves, crushed
- 2 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp oil or 3 tbsp butter
- 2 to 3 tbsp cream
- 4 cups water for pressure cooking
- 1.5 to 2 cups of rajma stock (the water which is used to cook the rajma) or plain water for the gravy or curry
- salt as required
Instructions
- rinse and soak the rajma or kidney beans in enough water overnight or for 8-9 hours.
- next day, discard the water and rinse the beans again in fresh water.
- in a pressure cooker, take both the rajma and 4 cups water.
- pressure cook on a medium to high flame for 15-20 minutes.
- when the rajma is cooking, you can chop the onions, tomatoes etc.
- when the pressure settles down on its own, open the lid,
- check if the rajma is cooked or not by taking a bite or pressing a bean.
- if they are not cooked completely, then pressure cook again adding some water if required for some minutes.
- heat oil + butter in another pot or pan.
- add cumin first and let them crackle & get browned.
- then add onions and saute them till they caramelized or golden browned.
- take care not to burn them as this will impart bitter tones in the curry.
- light browning the onions is also alright.
- keep on stirring the onions while sauting them, for uniform cooking and also so that they don’t get burnt.
- add the ginger-garlic-chili paste.
- stir and saute for 5-10 seconds on a low flame.
- add the tomatoes.
- saute for 2-3 minutes till the tomatoes become soft.
- add all the spice powders one by one – turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, asafoetida and garam masala powder.
- stir and saute the whole masala mixture till the fat starts leaving the masala.
- use a slotted spoon or a strainer and remove the beans and add them to the masala.
- you can also strain the rajma first and keep it aside.
- keep the stock also aside.
- stir and saute for a minute.
- take 1.5 to 2 cups from the stock and add to the rajma.
- add salt and stir the whole curry mixture.
- simmer without a lid for 10-12 minutes or more till the curry thickens slightly. it should not be watery.
- mash a few rajma beans with the spoon.
- this helps to thicken the curry.
- when the rajma masala has thickened and comes to the right consistency which is neither too thick nor thin, then add the kasuri methi and cream.
- stir & simmer rajma masala for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- switch off the fire.
- serve rajma masala restaurant style with steamed basmati rice, jeera rice or naan.
