Rajma Chawal (Kidney Beans Rice) or Rajma Masala is a famous North Indian (Punjabi) delicacy. The Red Kidney beans are cooked in a spicy gravy and served with steaming hot rice. Rajma gravy can also be served with Chapati/Roti also. A great lunchbox dish and kids will love this!!! Rajma Chawal comes with rich carbohydrate and Protein. Rice is rich in carbohydrate and the Rajma (Kidney Beans) is rich in Protein. Make sure the rest of your kids lunch box contains plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. A small green salad and some seasonal fruit would be ideal.

People usually love to eat Rajma masala with steamed rice or jeera rice but it also goes with naan, chapatis, phulkas, plain paratha, pudina paratha and also with tandooroi roties. You don’t need a side dish with rajma-chawal that means you don’t have to worry about cooking dals or other vegetables.You even don’t have to worry about chapatis.Just give a plate of steamed rice and pour over some rajma cooked in thick gravy and you have a complete meal. When you have rajma cooked in thick and tangy tomato gravy poured over hot steaming rice,its better than a seven course meal at a five star. Keep a cup of home-made dahi(curd) on the side and you will give a feel of paradise.

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Recipe Card for Rajma Chawal | How to make Rajma Masala Curry:

INSTRUCTIONS WITH STEP BY STEP PICTURES:

SOAKING RAJMA

Wash the rajma nicely and soak it water overnight or atleast for 12 hours. After 12 hours, or in the morning, the rajma has doubled its size. Drain the water and again add fresh water to cook the rajma. You can also buy a canned rajma which we can use it instantly without soaking.

COOK RAJMA

Next we need to prepare the masala bag. Take a thin and clean white cloth or a muslin cloth and add the masala bag ingredients and tie the cloth nicely.

Add the masala bag to the rajma and cook it for 3-4 whistles in a pressure cooker.

GRINDING TOMATO

Take tomato in a mixer jar.

Grind it to smooth paste.

STARTING WITH MASALA

While the rajma is getting cooked in cooker, we could make the gravy ready. Finely chop the onions, tomatoes. Make thin slices of green chillies and keep it ready. Heat a pan and add oil or butter. Butter would add a nice flavor and traditional Punjabi style of cooking. But if you are health conscious, we can add cooking oil. When the butter or oil is hot enough, add fennel seeds and cumin seeds.

SAUTING ONIONS

When the cumin seeds starts to sputter, add onions and green chillies. Add chopped ginger and sauté it nicely.

Add chopped onions along with a pinch of salt and sauté the onions nicely in a medium flame.

SPICE THE GRAVY

When the onions are soft and nicely cooked with masalas add ground tomato paste and add salt needed for the gravy and allow it to cook till the tomato puree is completely cooked.

Also add turmeric powder, amachur powder, cumin-pepper coarse powder and coriander powder and mix well. Allow the onion-tomato masala to cook nicely in medium flame for atleast 5 minutes.

ADD RAJMA TO MASALA

Meanwhile, when we are able to release the pressure from the cooker, take out the rajma vessel and using a ladle or in hand squeeze the masala bag to extract all masalas to the cooked rajma. The cooked rajma still have more water which we can use it in the gravy. Do not discard the water. The water will add a nice color to the gravy.

When the tomatoes are nicely cooked and mushy, add the cooked rajma along with the cooked water and mix well. Taste the gravy and adjust the salt.

THICKEN UP GRAVY

Take out 1 tablespoon of cooked rajma and add it to the mixer. Grind the rajma in the mixer to a nice paste. This step is optional. The main purpose of this step is to get a slightly thicker gravy.

MORE COOKING & GARNISHING

When the rajma gravy started to boil, add the ground rajma paste to the gravy and mix well. Add chopped coriander leaves and keep the flame in low and allow the rajma gravy to nicely cook and blend with the masalas for atleast 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, you can see a nice color and taste to the gravy. You can again top it with a teaspoon of ghee for a nice aroma and flavor.

SERVING TIME!

The scrumptious rajma gravy is now ready. Serve the rajma gravy with nice steaming hot rice. We can mix the rajma with hot and fluffy rice and pack it in the lunch box for our kids!!! Yummy Rajma Chawal (Kidney Beans Rice) is now ready.

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Rajma Chawal | How to make Rajma Masala Curry

Recipe Card for Rajma Chawal | How to make Rajma Masala Curry: