Imagine curling up with a good book on a Sunday afternoon with a bowl of freshly made rajma and basmati rice while the rain is pouring down on the world. “Rajma Chawal” is an absolute favorite when it comes to comfort food!
Main Dish for: 3-4 people. Prep Time: 15 minutes. Cook Time: 1 hour.
Note: pay attention to whether recipe asks for seeds, powder, or leaves – it matters. If you are using dry kidney beans, they need to be soaked for 8-10 hours.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups soaked kidney beans
- 1/2 tsp haldi (turmeric)
- 1 tsp dhaniya powder (coriander)
- 2 pieces of 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 7 cups of water
- 2 medium onions
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 2 green chillies
- 1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced
- 1/4 tsp jeera seeds (cumin)
- 2 green elaichi (cardamom)
- 1 black elaichi (cardamom)
- 1 piece of laung (clove)
- 6 pieces of black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 dried red chili
- 2 tbsp mustard oil
- 1/4 tsp garam masala
The Process:
1. Soak and cook the kidney beans in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot. Add 1/2 tsp haldi, 1/2 tsp coriander, 1 inch cinnamon, and 7 cups of water to the kidney beans while cooking. Add salt to taste, but add less for now – you can always add more later while tasting the finished product.
This will take a while, so do this step first and then prepare the gravy. The beans should turn out like the righthand side picture for best results. If you are using dry kidney beans, measure out 2 cups since they expand once soaked.
2. Finely chop and dice the onions, garlic, ginger, fresh coriander leaves, and green chillies. Gather together the jeera seeds, elaichi (green and black ones), laung, black pepper, cinnamon piece, bay leaf, and red chili. Dice the 2 medium tomatoes for later.
3. Heat the mustard oil. When a few jeera seeds fizz in the oil, add all the WHOLE spices in Step 2. After a bit, add the garlic, ginger, and green chillies to the oil.
4. When the garlic and ginger are a little cooked, add the onions and sauté really well.
5. When the onion mix is well done, add the fresh coriander. Mix everything for a bit. Then add in 1/2 tsp coriander powder and garam masala and stir fully.
6. Then add diced tomatoes and allow the oil to leave so that the paste cooks well.
7. Finally, add the completed gravy to the boiled kidney beans. Add some water to create a soup-y consistency and let simmer on low heat for anywhere from 15-30 minutes so the beans pick up the spices nicely. Serve with warm basmati jeera rice!
