Rajma (kidney beans curry) -

Ingredients -

Rajma| kidney beans – 1 Cup, dry

Onions – 2 medium, roughly chopped

Tomatoes – 3 medium, chopped

Ginger - 1” chopped

Garlic cloves – 2-3, chopped

Green chilies – 2, chopped

Rajma masala - 3-4 Cloves, 2-3 Green Cardamom, 1” Cinnamon, 4-5 black pepper

 Bay leaves – 2

Cumin seeds – ½ t-spoon

Turmeric powder – ½ t-spoon

Red Chili powder – 1 tb-spoon OR to taste (use kashmiri red chili powder)

Coriander powder – 1 tb-spoon

Cumin seeds powder – ½ t-spoon

Amachoor powder – 1 t-spoon

Salt to taste

1 tbsp ghee + 1 tsp Oil

Chopped coriander leaves and 1 t-spoon butter for garnishing

Procedure -

1. Wash and soak Rajma overnight or 5-6 hours in hot water.

2. Drain and pressure cook with 2 cup fresh water until the Rajma is cooked soft yet hold it’s shape – for about 15 minutes. Keep it aside.

3. Heat oil and ghee combination in a pan, add cumin seeds and bay leaves and sauté. Add onions and Sauté it for 3-4 mins until the onions become light brown. Add ginger-garlic and sauté for a minute. Add chopped tomatoes and cook for 2 -3 minutes, till they become little mushy.

4. Grind all the whole spices in a mixer grinder. Add all the spice powders to the onion-tomato mixture. To this, add cooked Rajma along with the stalk. Adjust the consistency to your choice and let it cook for 10-15 mins on low heat. Stir occasionally.

5. Finally add salt to taste. Cook for 2 mins more. Remove from the heat. Check for seasoning. Let it sit for 10-15 mins before serve. Let blend all the spices with Rajma.

6. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or paratha.

Note:

1. Rajma-chawal is a very popular Punjabi meal. Rajma is also regularly cooked in Kashmir. While making Rajma in Kashmiri style, use 1/8 t-spoon of funnel seeds powder and 1/8^th t-spoon of nutmeg powder and skip the cumin seeds powder.

2. Rajama should be mildly spiced and little sour in taste. If you don’t like sour taste, you can skip amchoor powder, but don’t add sugar.

3. Here I am using pressure cooker, but traditionally rajma is cooked on a low-medium flame for a longer duration. You can use slow cooker for this recipe.

4. You can use ghee as much as you want, here I tried reducing ghee/oil as much as I can.