Scullery experiments : Rajma Masala

Kidney bean popularly known as Rajma. It is majorly cooked and eaten in the northern parts of India.
It is high in nutritional content, and is one of my favorites as well!

It can be served along with rice or roti. For me it goes best with rice. :)

So here is detailed look into the procedure of making our very own desi rajma.

Ingredients needed :

1. Rajma - 1 bowl (soaked overnight for over 8-9 hours)
2. Tomatoes - 1 large
3. Onion - 1 large
4. Ginger - small piece
5. Garlic - 8-10 pieces
6. Chilly - 1
7. Sukhi mirchi
8. Jeera
9. Asafoetida
10. Coriander powder
11. Turmeric
12. Garam masala

First of all you would need to boil the rajmas in a pressure cooker, after having soaked them overnight for over 8-9 hours. Be sure to rinse it prior to boiling.
Your pressure cooker must cry till you get almost 8-10 sittis :P. Do add salt during boiling the rajma itself.

Rajma takes quite some sittis to soften.  It is too adamant you see. :D

As you are boiling the rajmas, you can do few things along side

• chop the onions finely
• chop the tomatoes finely
• slice about 8-10 pieces of ginger - 1 inch in length
• grate the garlic and the chilies together to create a paste

After about 10-12 sittis, if you still see that the rajma hasn't par soften , you can allow one more sitti - do make sure to add more water to the pressure cooker.
Don't let it completely soften, because after adding all the masalas and cooking for a while in the pan - the last step would be to give 2 more sittis.
My mom always follows this - and this somehow has always made the dish more flavorsome for me. :)

Now take a pan, heat some oil. Now add jeera, once in splutters, add sukhi mirchi - this is absolutely optional.
Then add the  finely chopped onions. Saute it for about 5-10 minutes, till they are golden brown. Take care that they do not get burnt - else it would leave a bitterness to the taste. While you are saute-ing the onions, add the salt - this aids in the browning of the onions easily and faster.

Once the onions have turned golden brown and start to caramelize,add the thin slices of ginger and the grated paste of garlic and chilies. Again saute it for about half a minute.

Next step would be to add to it, the tomatoes. Saute for about 2-3 minutes. 

Once the tomatoes soften,now it is time to splurge on the secret ingredients.

Add  

• 1 tea spoon of Coriander Powder
• 1 tea spoon of Garam Masala
• pinch of Asafoetida
• 1/2 a tea spoon of Turmeric powder
• 1/2 a tea spoon of Chili Powder.

Saute the whole mixture gracefully, such as to mix all the ingredients properly. You would need to saute it for about 5 minutes - to make sure the mixture doesn't get burnt.

In the mean while,drain the water of the boiled rajmas and store it - you can use this as a vegetable stock to make the gravy. The stock contains all the needed vital nutrients.

Coming back to our pan :),once you see the oil leaving the masalas, add the boiled rajmas.
Before that make sure that the smell of the masalas vanishes - so give it time to cook. Use your sense of smell, to check for the rawness of the masalas. :D

Add the stock to it.

Stir and mix.

Place the lid on the pan and let it simmer for about 6-7 minutes.

Finally, you need to transfer the contents to the pressure cooker again.Give about 1-2 sittis - use your judgement to get to the right softness of the rajmas.

Serve with garnishing like finely chopped coriander leaves and finely chopped onions(optional)!

And here you are ready with a healthy dish.

~Bon Appetite!!

P.S All the pictures have been taken by me. :D