Mom’s Style Rajma Chawal Maa ki Baat
Material
Beans
250 grams or 1.5 cups Rajma*
2 Indian bay leaves
1 black cardamom
1 teaspoon salt
Spices
2 tbsp ghee or butter
1 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp asafoetida
18 grams or 4 cloves garlic
30 grams ginger
2 green chillies
200 grams or 2 medium onions
300 grams or 4 tomatoes
10-12 springs fresh coriander
2 teaspoons coriander seed powder
1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder or sweet paprika powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon salt or as per taste
cumin rice
1 cup or 200 grams basmati rice
1.5 tsp ghee or oil
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin
2 cups or 500 ml water
1/2 tsp salt
Method
Step 1: Rajma
Soak the beans overnight (or for at least 8 hours) in plenty of water.
In a pressure cooker or heavy bottomed vessel, add 4 cups of water, salt, bay leaf and one black cardamom. Add soaked dried beans.
Cook the beans until completely soft. It took 25 minutes in the pressure cooker, it would probably take about 3 hours to boil in a regular pot (here's another reason to consider investing in a pressure cooker).
Step 2: Seasoning
While the kidney beans are cooking, prepare the masala.
Grind ginger, garlic and green chillies in a mortar and pestle or blender to make a thick paste. Alternatively you can also chop them finely.
Chop the onion as finely as possible and grind the tomatoes in a blender. Alternatively, you can also use 200 grams of store-bought tomato puree.
Heat ghee in a pan or kadhai on high flame*.* Once the ghee is hot, add cumin seeds and let them crackle. After some time, add asafoetida and chopped onion.
When the garlic and ginger start turning brown, add the spice powders (turmeric, coriander, chilli powder and garam masala). Fry them for a few seconds to release their aroma but take care not to burn the spices.
Clean the pan with pureed tomatoes and add 1 tsp salt. Cook this masala without lid until it thickens and all the water in the tomatoes dries up. You should see oil coming out from the sides. That's when you know it's ready.
Once your masala has become a thick paste, add it to the beans along with the cooking liquid (remove the bay leaves and cardamom).
Let the beans simmer with the spices on low flame for a few minutes and absorb all the flavour. Mash some of the beans with the back of your spoon to get a thick consistency.
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