Rajma

Introduction to Rajma

Breakdown of the Ingredients:

Just like any dish, everyone is going to make rajma a little differently. This is just my family’s recipe as taught to me by my father. I think the spices that really are the stars of the show here are the choti elachi, badi elachi, and cloves. Choti elachi translates to “small cardamom” and is the basic green cardamom you’re probably used to picturing when the word cardamom comes to mind. Badi elachi translates to “big cardamom” and is a black cardamom. These cardamoms and cloves add a wonderfully earthy and warm flavor to this dish. If you haven’t tried this combination before, I highly recommend it. It’s life changing!

Also, another thing to note about this dish is that I used canned kidney beans. And that’s because canned beans cook much faster and are more accessible. I always try to show the ingredients I actually use rather than say a dish calls for something fancier or harder to find just because it’s the more proper thing to use. Not that dried kidney beans are fancy. Lol. But I’m certain a lot of people would say they’d never use canned beans in this recipe. And listen, I totally respect that. It’s undeniable that dried kidney beans have a richer flavor than canned. But most nights when I’m cooking dinner after a long day of work, canned beans work well in a pinch! No soaking overnight, or extra boil time for the canned beans to soften. It just makes things so much quicker and easier.

• Oil
• Roasted cumin seeds 
• Yellow onions 
• Ginger 
• Garlic 
• Can of diced tomatoes
• Jalapeño 
• Coriander powder
• Coriander leaves and stems 
• Garam masala
• Amchur powder
• Turmeric
• Choti elachi
• Badi elachi
• Cloves
• Salt
• Red chili powder
• Water
• Kidney beans

Process + Keys to Success:

• Sauté your onions in oil until translucent and then add in hing
• Next, add in your ginger and garlic and cook for another minute or so before adding in your dry roasted cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala, and amchur powder
• Make sure to turn your heat to low so that you don’t burn your spices, and then let everything simmer for another minute
• Add in your can of diced tomatoes, your jalapeno, and your fresh cilantro (Note, for a smoother consistency you can throw your canned tomatoes into a food processor or just use crushed tomatoes)
• Now add in your salt, choti elachi, badi elachi, and cloves, and simmer the mixture on a medium-low heat for another 10-15 minutes until all the water has released from the tomatoes.
• Add in your rajma and water and cook for 30 minutes in your pressure cooker.

Pro Tips:

1. To dry-roast your cumin seeds, simply heat your cumin seeds on a skillet over a medium heat until they turn fragrant and start to slightly darken in color. Be careful not over-roast because you do not want to burn the seeds. Then, crush your seeds with a mortar and pestle to create a fine powder.

2. If you do not own a pressure cooker, I think an instant pot could be a good substitute. However, cooking times may vary. If you have neither than you can simply cover your pot with its respective lid and let it simmer, but the cook time will definitely be much longer than 30 minutes – it would probably be closer to an hour.

3. To dry-roast your cumin seeds, simply heat your cumin seeds on a skillet over a medium heat until they turn fragrant and start to slightly darken in color. Be careful not over-roast because you do not want to burn the seeds. Then, crush your seeds with a mortar and pestle to create a fine powder.

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