Punjabi Rajma

Punjabi Rajma Recipe
Tender red kidney beans, simmered in flavoursome onion tomato gravy, and loads of asian spices.A perfect, sumptous and a healthy meal .

Punjabi Rajma or red kidney bean curry is a quintessential bean curry dish, served with steamed rice , in North India, especially the region of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. This dish happens to be one of the top most curry dishes, loved by kids as well as grown ups.

Cooking Rajma / Red Kidney beans

To prepare Punjabi rajma curry ,soak the kidney beans (rajma beans) in enough water overnight . To cook, boil the soaked and rinsed beans in pressure cooker for about 20-25 minutes till the rajma beans are tender, and you can easily crush them using two fingers.

In the cooked beans, add a tsp of mustard oil, cover and let it simmer on slow till you get the tempering ready. Adding mustard oil is completely optional. I add it because it provides a slightly rustic , sharp taste and flavour to the beans when these are cooked. Most of the people do not add it. So you can skip this if you want to.

Tempering

For tempering I mostly use ghee, as using ghee makes it easier to digest whole beans and legumes, and of course using ghee enhances the taste of the curry, but if you want to add any other oil of your preference you can use that.

The ingredients required for tempering are crushed ginger garlic , onion and cumin seeds paste, fresh tomatoes pureed, green chillies and dry spices.

Crushed ginger garlic- use fresh or use store bought paste.

Onion and cumin paste-
In a grinder roughly grind onions and cumin seeds together.

Tomato puree- In a grinder , nicely grind tomatoes till they form puree.

Dry Spices needed are- asafoetida powder, salt, red chilli powder, degi mirchi powder or Kashmiri mirch powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, dried crushed fenugreek leaves.

Heat oil/ ghee add asafoetida powder. Sauté for a minute and add crushed ginger garlic. Sauté this till the raw aroma goes away. Add onion and cumin seeds paste , and sauté till the paste is thoroughly cooked. It will start turning golden. Make sure not to burn it.

Last add the tomato puree. Sauté this till the tomatoes are nicely cooked, and the oil/ ghee starts leaving sides.The tempering should be properly cooked, and there should be no water.
Now add chopped, or sliced green chillies.
Add all dry spices - salt, red chilli powder, degi mirchi powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder.
Mix well. Add fenugreek leaves, and mix.

Once you tempering is ready, add it to the cooked rajma, and mix well. Pressure cook once again for one whistle, so that the tempering is incorporated , and the beans absorb the flavour . Turn the heat off.

Open the pressure cooker once the pressure has subsided, and serve rajma with a dollop of ghee / butter, fresh coriander, and a sprinkle of garam masala.

The best accompaniment for the rajma is steamed rice, or jeera rice, but they go well with paranthas, or tandoori roti as well. Serve it with sliced onions, and salad, raita and your healthy dream lunch is ready.