Rajma / Red Bean Curry.

“Rajma / Red Bean Curry” …. A delicious curry that is famous world wide and is loved by one and all … Here is my very own style of spicy rajma curry that goes well with some pulav or roti / capati / paratha …. Yummy .....

Rajma / Rajmah Red Bean Curry is a dish North Indian Dish famous throughout the world prepared with red beans / red kidney beans. This is a protein rich curry that goes very well with steamed rice, chapati, poori, naan or parathas. You can also serve the same with mildly served pulav / spicy pulav / Biryani or Jeera Rice. The curry base is onion and tomato with the addition of spices. However, being a south Indian, I love my gravies with a little bit of freshly grated coconut as it gives bulk to the curry which yields in a thicker consistency. Also known as Rajma Masala this is loved by young and old alike. We Konkani Saraswats have our own way of cooking these red bean which in konkani we call as tambadi bee. We season it with coconut oil and asafoetida / hing and relish the same with hot steaming rice or season the same with garlic which we call koddel.

When my friend messaged me asking to send in the link to Punjabi Style Rajma Curry, I realized that it had been a long time since I had prepared the same and the thought of blogging it had never crossed my mind. This is such a common curry that I never thought that someone would really ask for it. My friend who had tasted this curry in my home wanted to know my recipe. This was about a decade back and those days I neither had a Blog nor a food group nor did I post in food groups. Well seema, I have specially prepared this one for you and thanks for reminding me of the same. Sending you the link, Go ahead and enjoy this one with your family and kids. I have prepared and served this with Soya Chunks Veg. Green pulav, you may serve it with roti too or just prepare jeera rice. Goes very well with either dish. But do try out my Soya Chunks Veg. Green Pulav too which will be posted back to back with this dish … Yummmilicious

Ingredients :

Rajma / Red Bean / Red Kidney Bean : 2 cups 

(I use the light coloured rajma beans, as the dark coloured ones take up a lot of cooking you may do so if you wish)

Onion : 1 large sized.

Ripe Tomato : 2 large sized.

Coconut : ¼ cup freshly grated.

Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder : 1 tblsp + 1 tsp

Coriander / Dhania Powder : 1 tblsp

Jeera Powder : 1 tsp

Fennel / Sauf Powder : ¼ tsp

Ginger : 1 inch piece

Garlic : 12-15 cloves.

Curry Leaves : 6-8

Oil : 2 tblsp

Salt to taste

For Garnishing :

Coriander Leaves : handful finely chopped 

Onion Rings : 6-8

** Pick, wash and soak Rajma / Red Bean in plenty of water for 8 hours or overnight.

** Wash the soaked rajma, put it in pressure cooker along with enough water and pressure cook on medium heat to 3 whistles. The level of the water in the pressure cooker should be about an inch over the level of rajma. Also once the pressure in the cooker has fallen down on its own, remove and check if the rajma is cooker or else further cook it to 2 whistles.

** A little about pressure cooking of Beans : While pressure cooking rajma or any pulses for that matter, a lot of things get into consideration. Some dals / pulses cook fast while some do not. Also in each place, the availabitliy of ingredients and their cooking time too differs. So the best way is to try a few times and judge for yourself the timings of the pulses. If not sure always pressure cook to 2-3 whistles, check and then further cook if necessary the first time. Later on, you will know how much it should be cooked etc. The beans should not get mashed or mushy, should retain its shape and should get prssed between fingers only when pressure is applied for checking. If the pulses get overcooked neither the curry will turn out good nor will it be suitable to enjoy in the curries, also when you further cook it with masala it will all turn up into one mass. So be careful when you go about pressure cooking the beans / dals / pulses. Also here I have used light colured red bean, if you use the darker coloured variety, it takes much more time to get cooked even in pressure cooker. 

** Peel of the skin of onion and garlic and chop them into pieces. Also cut the ginger into small pieces. Put this in a mixer grinder and grind to a smooth paste. Remove and keep aside.

** Chop the tomatoes into small pieces. Divide into half and keep one part aside for later on while using one part for grinding the masala.

** For Grinding Masala : Now add in the freshly grated coconut, 1tblsp of chilly powder, Coriander / Dhania Powder, Jeera Powder, Fennel / Sauf Powder and the one part of tomato and grind to a smooth paste. Add water only if necessary as tomato also gives out water while grinding. However, use the red bean cooked water for grinding the masala. The ground paste should be smooth and fine. Keep this ready aside.

** In thick bottomed kadai, add in the oil when hot lower the heat and add in the curry leaves and then the onion-garlic-ginger ground paste and fry for 5-7 mins. The rawness of the paste should go away and there should be slight change in the colour, sprinkle little bit of water in between if you find the paste getting burnt.

** Now add in the remaining red chilly powder and further fry for few seconds. You may be wondering why I have followed this method. When Kashmiri red chilly powder is added to oil and fried, it imparts a lovely colour unlike from ground masala. 

** Now add in the coconut based ground masala and further fry for a few minutes. Add in the remaining chopped tomato pieces and mix well. Cover and cook for 2 mins. Lastly add in the cooked red beans / rajma, salt to taste and mix well. Add in the cooked water only that much that is necessary. If need be you can add in extra water too. Just see to it that you keep the curry semi thick consistency. 

** Now cover with a lid and cook on low heat till you see bubbles appearing on surface of the curry. Mix once or twice in between. The curry is done. Garnish with coriander leaves and onion rings. 

** “Rajma / Red Bean Curry” is done and ready to e served. Serve this dish as an accompaniment with any dish of your choice. You can serve it with roti, naan, pulav, biryani, dosa or even idly. Tastes great. I however served this with soya chunks veg. green pulav and it tasted yummy. Do try this out and enjoy with you friends and family. I am sure they will love it. If you have guest dropping in for Diwali this season, you can prepare this ahead and serve hot as and when required. Just put in MW and serve hot. Yummilicious. 

** Note : Will be adding the recipe to Soya Chunks Veg. Green Pulav next in the Blog and will share the link here ... Thank you.