Rajma Masala (Kidney Beans Curry)

Rajma is one of my favourite bean curries and I literally had to attempt several trials to get it right. In fact one of the curries that I had to try out several times to get it right! I have tried several recipes before this version and had failed miserably. But my love for Rajma curry pushed me to try yet another luck and this recipe from my Futura Pressure Cooker book put an end to my search for a great recipe. It’s a simple recipe, uses very little spices, and is really tasty! I halved the quantity in the book and result has been the same. This serves 4-5 people, and you can easily double it to serve 10 people.

Rajma Masala (Kidney Beans Curry)

Serves 4-5 (Around 10 people with double measurements)

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup Dry Rajma (Kidney Beans)

1 heaped cup onion (150g), finely chopped

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 whole dry red chillies

½ Tablespoon Kashmiri chilli powder

6 flakes garlic grated

5gm (1 cm size) ginger, grated

1 heaped cup tomatoes (2 medium size, 225g), chopped

2 ¼ cup water

1 ½ teaspoon salt or as required

½ teaspoon garam masala

If you want to double the recipe, Use the measurements below:

2 ½ cup Dry Rajma (Kidney Beans)

2 heaped cup onion (300g), finely chopped

½ cup vegetable oil

3 whole dry red chillies

1 Tablespoon Kashmiri chilli powder

12 flakes garlic grated

10 gm (1 inch size) ginger, grated

2 cup tomatoes (4 medium size, 450g), chopped

4 ½ cups water

Salt - as required

1 teaspoon garam masala

Preparation:

1. Wash Kidney beans and Soak them overnight or in boiling water for 2-4 hours. Drain.

2. Heat oil in pressure cooker. Add chillies and stir for few seconds. Add onions and fry till golden brown, or almost brown. Add ginger garlic paste. Stir for few seconds. Add tomatoes, chilli powder and salt. Cover and cook till tomatoes are pulpy and oil shows separately (approximately 5-8 minutes), stirring occasionally to avoid sticking.

3. Add beans and water. Stir. Close cooker, bring to full pressure on high heat. Reduce the heat and cook for 30-40 minutes depending on the cooker and the amount of time soaked.

4. Remove the cooker from heat and allow to cool naturally.

5. Open the cooker; partially mash beans with back of ladle till gravy is creamy. Add garam masala powder and stir. Serve hot along with chapatti, rice etc.

Notes:

1. Make sure you saute onions until they are brown and cook tomatoes until oil clears.

2. As with any lentil curries, rajma masala also gets thicker as it sits. Please add water to thin it out.