Rajma Masala

With the unthinkable happening in the world, we three, alike everybody everywhere are stuck at home. The husband man is working from home and the little man’s spring break got extended till the beginning of April.
We had been trying to stock up groceries and essentials, but the long lines and scarcity of most items have made me rethink my meal preps.
Dried beans are a great way to stock up food, their shelf life is very long, and the meal preparation time is not long as long as you have a pressure cooker. Rajma or kidney beans are a great source of vegan protein, they are very nutritious and of course tasty. I got introduced to rajma quiet late in life. During my college years we went on a trip to Delhi, and I was amazed by the number of street food carts selling rajma chawal, and more amazed by the long lines for a bowl of rajma chawal. For the spice blend, you can either use a ready made Rajma masala mix from the store, or make your own. Stay tuned, I’ll soon post the recipe for rajma masala spice mix.
Like most beans, you have to have patience for cooking rajma. The best way is to soak the beans overnight, and then pressure cooker it for 4 – 6 whistles. If you want to skip the process of soaking beans then either buy canned kidney beans or pressure cook it for at least 12 whistles.
You can also try kabuli chola or chana, and ghugni recipes. For chole masala, you can try this spice blend.

Ingredients:

1 cup dry kidney beans
1 medium size onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 green chilies, chopped
1 tablespoon Rajma powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon garam masala
Salt to taste

Directions:
Soak the dried kidney beans for at least 4 hours, better overnight. In a pressure cooker, pressure cook the soaked kidney beans for 4 to 5 whistles. Let the pressure come down and then open the lid of the cooker

In the meantime, in a frying pan, heat oil and add the chopped onions and garlic. Fry till the onion turns light pink, add the chopped tomatoes along with ginger garlic paste. Fry till oil separates, stirring often. Add the green chilies

Add the fried onion to the cooked rajma, put in the rajma powder, turmeric and chili powder and stir to mix. Season with salt. At this point you can add warm water if you want the curry to be watery. Cook for 5 more minutes. Sprinkle the garam masala, cover and cook for 2 minutes

Serve hot with rice.