Punjabi Rajma Masala is a slightly creamy curry made with Kidney Beans. Rajma is very popular in North Indian Cuisine. Rajma Chawal is the best example of comfort food. In India, rajma is grown in Uttrakhand, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir. They are a good source of dietary fibre and are considered a vegetable protein. They are low in fat and saturated fat but high in other nutrients, including calcium, iron, zinc, folate and potassium.
There are many varieties of Rajma beans. The popular ones are Red rajma (Kidney Beans), Kashmiri Rajma, (Small Kidney Beans) And Chitra Rajma (Light in colour and speckled). For this recipe of authentic Pind Da Rajma Dhaba Style I have used Chitra variety of rajma. This variety cooks very well and evenly. They are soft and gets slightly mushy when cooked, to give the curry a perfect texture. This delicious Rajma Masala is cooked in a paste of onion, garlic, ginger, green chilli and tomatoes, along with some whole gram masalas and other spices.
This Rajma recipe is very simple to make. It is one pot recipe cooked with commonly found ingredients in most of the kitchen. Traditionally this was cooked in a pot over low heat as prolonged slow cooking brings out the flavour of all the spices which gets blended beautifully with the kidney beans. Although I have cooked in a pressure cooker but have also cooked without the lid for some time to get that perfect creamy texture of the rajma masala.
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #blissofcooking on Instagram. You may like to try our other Punjabi recipes like Dal Amritsari (Langarwali Dal) and Maa ki Dal.
Yield: 4 servings
Prep time: 10 minutes, soaking time 6 hours
Total time: 50 minutes
Ingredients for Punjabi Rajma Masala
1 cup rajma
2 tablespoon chana dal
1 to 2 tablespoon ghee
2 black cardamom
2 cloves
1 teaspoon cumin
2 bay leaves
2 small pieces of mace
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
1 teaspoon mango powder
2 tablespoon chopped coriander
For the paste
1 large chopped onion
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
2 green chilli
1 tablespoon garlic
2 chopped tomato
Directions for Pind da Rajma
- Wash and soak the rajma overnight or 6 hours.
- Wash the chana dal and soak for 30 minutes.
- Grind all the paste ingredients together to a coarse paste.
- Heat ghee in a pressure cooker; add jeera and all the whole masalas; stir fry for 30 seconds.
- Add the paste and saute on low to medium heat till it starts to leave the sides and ghee starts to come out.
- Add turmeric, coriander, chilli powder, salt and toss for a minute.
- Now add the soaked chana dal, rajma and give a good stir. Close the lid and cook on high heat till the first whistle. Lower the heat and cook for 20 minutes.
- Open the lid and check the rajma; it should be soft or else give 1 or 2 whistles again.
- Add the cumin powder, mango powder, half the chopped coriander and cook the rajma without the lid on low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Garnish with rest of chopped coriander on top.
- Serve with jeera rice or white rice.
