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Rajma (Red Kidney Beans)

What you need: 

2 cup Red kidney beans
3 qt Water
1 teaspoon Turmeric
1 tablespoon Salt
1/4 cup Oil
1 cup Onion, Chopped
1 piece ginger, chopped
1 teaspoon Garam Masala
3 Chopped tomatoes
Coriander leaves for garnish

What you do: 

Wash beans and boil for 2-3 hours or 1/2 hour in a pressure cooker. In the meantime make Masala of onions, garlic, ginger and tomato. Add to the beans and cook again until most of the liquid dries up and the beans are soft and thoroughly cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Preparation Time: 
Cooking Time: 
Servings: 
Recipe Category: 

SO HOW'D IT GO?

Good basic recipe, which is very open to tweaking. I started by sautéing the onion with home made garlic-ginger-turmeric paste. Added a can of chopped tomatoes with chillis and my own home-boiled beans. A whole Tablespoon of salt seemed like way too much for me, so I cut it back. Over rice, delicious. I could see adding a little coconut milk if you want a creamier sauce.

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Anonymous

Hi. I realize that the comments on this recipe are quite old, but just in case someone is stalking it I thought I could help clarifying the directions since I have watched my Indian friend cook while I wait impatiently.  I assume that "in the meantime..." means while the beans are cooking start the masala sauce. I would heat the oil first before adding the spices (garam masala, tumeric) because it will allow the oils and flavors of the spices to come out more.  Then I would add the onions and ginger until the onions are translucent.  Then I would slowly add the tomatoes, being careful not to splatter (trust me its a mess).  Now I would sprinkle the salt to help break down the tomatoes and bring everything together. Lastly add the beans and allow to simmer to combine.  I hope this helps.

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I love Indian food and this was a fast simple dish to do. I added spinach like a couple of the other posters and it added to the flavor. I felt like their was too much salt, if I make it again I would definitely use less. 

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Anonymous

i don't feel like this recipe is very friendly for beginner cooks... "In the meantime make Masala of onions, garlic, ginger and tomato." I don't really understand what exactly this means? especially since garlic isn't even listed in the ingredient list... and the turmeric, salt, oil and garam masala aren't even mentioned in the directions... clearly i am missing something..? i want to be able to make this.. the picture looks super good. but i kind of need things spelled out for me.. lol...

Yeah I didn't quite understand either but ended up just making it up anyway, I added peas and spinach for some reason I can't stick to a recipe!

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fishbone, I understand. It took me a fair bit of research online to figure out the basics of Indian cooking, what they mean when they say "x", or when they just don't say enough...

For this recipe, I'd suggest...

Soak and cook the beans, on their own, as normal.
Chop the onions, (garlic - perhaps 2 cloves?) and ginger and fry them in in a bit of oil (not 1/4 cup! yikes!).
Add the turmeric and garam masala; fry until fragrant.
Add the tomatoes and simmer on a low heat.
Add the (drained) beans when they're cooked.
Stir in salt to taste (1 tablespoons seems a lot!).
Garnish with coriander (cilantro) leaves, and serve over rice.

Hope this helped. ;)b

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i don't feel like this recipe is very friendly for beginner cooks... "In the meantime make Masala of onions, garlic, ginger and tomato." I don't really understand what exactly this means? especially since garlic isn't even listed in the ingredient list... and the turmeric, salt, oil and garam masala aren't even mentioned in the directions... clearly i am missing something..? i want to be able to make this.. the picture looks super good. but i kind of need things spelled out for me.. lol...

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A very tasty, simple dish. It was great with some spinach in it. I didn't use the full amount of water, but I will next time. My sauce was quite thick and rich. Served on brown rice with fresh naan bread... nom nom nom.

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;D
These beans were wonderful!!!!  I served them along side another sweeter Indian dish and they were such a complement!  My nine-yr-old "picky eater" loved them too!

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