Rajma Masala | Curried Kidney Beans
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Rajma is for some the official dish of North India, especially in the Punjab region. This classic curry gets its flavours and colour from red kidney beans, ginger, garlic and sweet red tomatoes. This is definitely a household favourite! I know that I can’t name anyone who doesn’t like rajma, and I’m sure after you try this recipe my list will still be blank! Serve this rajma with some fresh rice, crispy potatoes, and breads of your choice.
My usual time to have rajma growing up was during lunch time! Imagine this, a mountain of rice with huge spoonfuls of the soft kidney beans and sauce, with crispy potatoes. Yes, it was great! A little secret here, while eating rajma, I am rushing in my head to pick out the kidney beans so I can enjoy my favourite part. The rice, sauce and potatoes. This combination is deadly and is not at all possible without kidney beans.
By the way, here’s a tip! If you have leftover rajma, it will taste even yummier when you eat it the next day!
Health Benefits of Rajma
Who else associates beans with farting? Am I childish? Yeah, I’ve heard that many times! But let’s forget about that and focus about some amazing health benefits that come from these beans!
For 100 grams of cooked kidney beans, we get:
Almost 9 grams of protein
Over 6 grams of fibre
Vitamins and minerals such as manganese, potassium, iron, and copper.
Source: Healthline
Tips for Making the Best Rajma
Plan ahead and soak the beans for at least 4-6 hours before cooking. While an Instant Pot can cook rajma from dried, I find the quality of the softness and doneness in the rajma is not the same as pre-soaked and then cooked.
Season the cooking water before cooking the rajma and add aromatics such as cloves and cinnamon. This will inject the beans with a ton of flavour!
Reserve the cooking water for the rajma, it contains a lot of flavour and provides the classic colour we all love in rajma masala.
The base flavour of this curry comes from the “masala” that we cook with the puréed onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes. Make sure that you cook the masala well, until reddish brown and almost dried out.
Don’t over-do the amount of spices. It is easy to get excited and add excess spices in anticipation of the final dish. Trust me, tomato and onion mixture will shine through and add wonderful flavours with the right amount of spices.
Ingredients for Rajma Masala
There aren’t many ingredients needed for this home-style recipe! Just a little bit goes a long way to truly let this gravy and the red kidney beans shine in this dish!
This is what you’re going to need:
Onion
Ginger
Garlic
Onion
Tomatoes
Cumin seeds or jeera
Water
How to Make Rajma Masala
Cooking the Rajma
Soak the rajma in water for at least 4-6 hours.
Pressure Cooker
Add rajma to stovetop pressure cooker and add 4 times the volume of water, along with salt, cinnamon and clove. Cook for 2-3 whistles on high heat, then turn down the heat to medium and cook for 15-20 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally.
Instant Pot
Add rajma to the Instant Pot and add 4 times the volume of water, along with salt, cinnamon and clove. Set Instant Pot to Pressure Cook mode on High and cook for 8 minutes. Ensure Instant Pot is in Sealing mode. Let the pressure release naturally (about 20 minutes).
Making the Masala
Begin by adding the ginger, garlic, and onion in a food processor with a bit of water.
Purée until everything is well combined.
Heat a pot on medium heat and add ghee.
When the pot is hot, add hing and cumin seeds. Cook until cumin seeds turn reddish brown and aromatic.
Add onion, ginger, garlic puree and cook until mixture is dry and brown. Add water if mixture gets too dry and starts to stick.
Add rajma masala and deggi mirch and continue cooking.
Cook for 2-3 minutes.
Purée the tomatoes in a food processor.
Add tomato purée and bring to boil.
Add 1/2 tsp salt and cook with a lid on until the mixture turns redder and becomes dry (about 7-10 minutes). Keep stirring from time to time.
Add cooked kidney beans and enough reserved cooking water to make a runny gravy.
Season with salt and simmer on medium low heat until you have a thick gravy.
When your gravy is thick, remove the lid and garnish with cilantro.
Mix well.
And that’s it! Serve hot and enjoy!
Can I Make Rajma Masala in Advance?
You know what, I’ll do one better. I’m actually going to recommend making too much. Why? Well, you gotta see for yourself how good it is the next day! So whatever you think you’re going to eat, plan for some leftovers. I’ve had rajma for breakfast even and I love it! Simply transfer the remaining rajma to a container and store in the refrigerator or the freezer.
You can keep cooked rajma in the fridge for 3-4 days, or freeze it for up to 6 months.
To reheat from the refrigerator
In the microwave: Heat uncovered for 2-3 minutes, stirring at 45 second intervals.
Over the stove: Transfer the contents to a pan or pot and bring to a gently simmer over medium low heat.
To reheat from the freezer
In the microwave: Heat uncovered for 2-3 minutes, stirring at 45 second intervals.
Over the stove: Thaw the rajma masala overnight and then transfer the contents to a pan or pot and bring to a gently simmer over medium low heat.
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cookingwithanadi. Thank you!