For a Punjabi his heart lies in his rajma (my husband's lie in it for sure). When we were dating he told me not to learn cooking because he wanted me to learn the Punjabi way to cook the rajma. It took me sometime to get the dish right but till the time I did not get it right, he used to mightly crib. Imagine the poor guy's horror when I decided to cook it in 2 tsp oil but he could never make the difference out nor will you. This is one dish that can be made in less oil and you won't even feel the pinch of a difference. It tastes mouthwateringly delicious. Ingredients: 1. 2 cups rajma - I use more of Kashmiri rajma which are small in size. They give the creamy texture to the dish. So in 2 cups rajma, I use 1 and half cup kashmiri variety and half cup long variety. If you cannot get the kashmiri rajma then forget it proceed with the ones you have. 2. 2 medium Size Tomatoes. 3. 5 medium size onions. 4. 1 whole pod garlic. 5. 1 inch ginger. 6. green chili as per your taste. 7. 2 tsp roasted cumin powder. 8. 2 tsp homemade garam masala 9. 1 tsp cumin seeds. 10. 2 tsp crushed kasturi methi (optional) 11. Salt to taste. 12. 1 tea cup (medium size) milk with 2 tsp curd mixed. Mix them nicely so that there are no lumps. 13. 2 tsp oil. Check the recipe of homemade grama masala here Utterly Not Butterly Delicious Dhal Makhni - IndusLadies Procedure 1. Wash the Rajma thoroughly and soak overnight. Do not drain the water. 2. Now in a pressure cooker pour the rajma and the water they were soaked in. If this water is less then you will need to add more water. Usually the water should be double the quantity as we will be pressure cooking the rajma for longer period of time. 3. Add some salt and pressure cook on medium heat for 10 whistles. After this when the pressure cools off check if the rajma beans are well cooked. If not then you will have to again pressure cook. 4. Grind onions and garlic together and keep aside. 5. Grind ginger, tomatoes and chilli together and keep aside. 6. In a pan put the oil, add cumin seeds when they splutter, add onion paste. Add a pinch of salt and cook till all the water evaporates from the onions. 7. Add the tomato paste and cook till it turn dark brown in color and all water evaporates. If the color does not turn red and the water evaporates then add half cup water and cook till the gravy is thick and red in color. 8. Add the above cooked paste to the rajma, add the cumin powder and garam masala and salt. Pressure cook for 2 whistles. Make sure that the water is enough. Everything is cooked, we are pressure cooking so that the masala seeps in the beans. 9. When the pressure cools off and with the gas switched off, add the milk. Do not pour the milk immediately it will curdle. Add little quantity and mix well then again add little quantity and mix well, do this till you finish the whole cup. 10. Switch on the gas and let it come to a boil, add kasturi methi and switch off after 5 minutes. View attachment 130131 Serve hot with paratha or rice. View attachment 130132 View attachment 130133 Enjoy!!!!.
Dear Radhapartha2000, I am glad you liked the recipe. I hope it tastes good too Do let me know how it turned out. Lots of love Shiva
Hmm curd? never used that before in rajma. I used mango powder (amchur) in it. Would curd here be used for the same purpose for that bit sour-tangy taste?
Well in Punjabi cuisine milk nicely mixed with 2 tsp curd is there in Rajma and daal makhni. I guess it gives the creamy texture to the dish. The moment you add this the whole taste of the dish turns creamy. If you are adding milk then don't amchur powder. Have a great day ahead.. regards Shiva
Hi Shiva, Your Rajma recipe is really good. Let me make it more easy. While pressure cooking Rajma, I do add (ginger, garlic, onions, tomato, green chillies) paste along with salt, turmeric and Garam Masala. You can add a teaspoon of oil or Ghee (optional). Once the rajma is nicely cooked, just mash it lightly and cook it on high flame (without closing the presure cooker) for another 5 to 7 mins. You save lot of time in frying the onion tomato paste. You can substitue rajma with either Kabuli Chana, black or green Chana and Chowli which is called black eye beans. I must say that as everyone feels that punjabi dishes are loaded with lot of calories from ghee, butter and cream, but let me tell you that we never use cream in any dishes. We do use ghee instead of oil for seasoning dals. Do try it. Dals taste awesome in Ghee.
Oops forgot to mention that we never use milk or curd in Rajma and neither in Dal makhani as mentioned in your previous post.
Thanks for sharing the tip. I make daal makhni the way you suggested in your comment. But when I tried doing this way the rajma turned out more creamy. My Husband's family is Punjabi and I have learnt cooking this way from my MIL. SO the trick to use milk and curd has come from this family (who are punjabies). I guess it depends on family to family. Its a myth that Punjabi dishes are laden with calories, they are not. MY MIL makes awesome food with really less oil/ghee. Have a great day ahead. regards Shiva
