A popular North Indian vegetarian delicacy…
Long weekend seemed very short, holidays are never enough as a matter of fact. On Monday evening, I sipped iced cappuccino so tastily and the caffeine in it screwed up my good night sleep. I am so sensitive to caffeine, if I have coffee or tea after 2 pm I wouldn’t be able to sleep as my brain will be working so hard. Hence, I felt so high and hung over on Tuesday, I was glad when Tuesday came to an end. I did sleep well last night, better I say I over slept so awesomely as my phone alarm failed to blare. I still can’t figure it out what went wrong as my phone was in full charge, it wasn’t turned off nor the alarm, scratching my head! Anyway, I feel much better today as I woke up naturally this morning without being bothered by alarms and other sounds. I worked so awesomely today and felt so fresh throughout the day. How I wish if I could accumulate sleep in my body and use it when it’s desperately needed. It doesn’t matter if we sleep sound three nights in a row, if we miss sleep the 4th night we would feel horrible till we get that sleep back. At times, sleep does rule our minds.
Last Monday, we went vegetarian; as part of that I’d tried a few veggie dishes. Rajma is a very popular vegetarian curry or gravy based dish in North India. The main ingredient in it is red kidney beans. A dish highly rich in protein and fibers. Traditional cooking of rajma calls for soaking up dried red kidney beans over night and cooking in the pressure cooker or in a dutch oven till the beans turn tender. Since, canned red kidney beans are widely available, I used the canned ones. This is a very flavorful veggie curry that goes well with chapati, appam, naan, roti or rice.
Step by Step pictures:
Red kidney beans combined with spices
Cooked Rajma
- Oil- 1 tbsp
- Bay leaves- 2
- Cumin seed- 1 tsp
- Onion chopped- 1, large
- Ginger-Garlic paste- 1 tbsp
- Tomato sauce- 1 cup
- Red kidney beans, canned- 1 large can ( drain the liquid and rinse under running water)
- Turmeric powder- ⅛ tsp
- Cumin powder- 1 tsp
- Coriander powder- 2 tsp
- Fennel powder- 1 tsp
- Garam Masala- ½ tsp
- Kashmiri red chili powder- 1 tsp ( use regular chili powder if you want this curry to be spicy)
- Salt -to taste
- Water- 1 cup
- Cilantro, chopped- 2 handful
- I used canned red kidney beans, if you prefer you could soak the dried red kidney beans in water overnight and cook in a pressure cooker or a dutch oven till the beans turn tender.
- If using canned red kidney beans, drain the liquid and rinse it under running water. Keep aside.
- Place a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil. Let it turn hot.
- Add bay leaves and cumin seeds in the oil, saute for a few seconds.
- Add onion, and a few pinches of salt, saute till onion turns translucent.
- Add ginger-garlic paste, saute for a few minutes.
- Add tomato sauce, cook for a few minutes.
- Add cooked red kidney beans, combine well.
- Add turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, fennel powder, garam masala and Kashmiri red chili powder, combine well and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add water, salt to taste and cook covered for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add cilantro and cook for a minute.
- Remove the pan from the heat and keep it covered for sometime.
- Serve with chapati, roti, naan, Appam or rice
