Rajma
Hi, I'm back again and this time with a dish called Rajma, which simply means beans.
For those of you who are here with me for the first time, let me repeat what I wrote last time. "To ground you in reality, I don't cook the kind of Indian food you get served in a restaurant. I learned these recipes from my Indian ex, who learned them from his mum. He comes from the state of Punjab. Why am I telling you this? Because you need to know that some recipes can differ from state to state. A little, or a lot…" And now let's dive in!
What do I need for Rajma?
Oil
Water
A pinch of cumin (caraway works too)
2 larger red onions (regular onions work too)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 and ½ tsp red paprika (it doesn't matter which kind, it's mostly there for colour)
4 cloves of garlic
A piece of ginger
2 green chillies
2 tsp tomato paste
1 can of beans (red kidney beans are best)
1 tsp Kitchen King Masala
How do I make it?
First I get everything I'll need ready. I take two red onions, one bigger and one smaller, and chop them both finely in a blender. I pour oil into the bottom of the pressure cooker (you can swap it for ghee, we like that better) and when it's hot, I add the cumin. Once the cumin starts to smell lovely, I add the chopped onion and stir. I let the mixture fry on a lower flame. (The onion needs to be soft and lightly browned, but not completely.)
In the meantime I put 4 cloves of garlic, a piece of ginger (I use a slice about 2 cm thick), two teaspoons of tomato paste, 2 green chillies and a little water into the blender and blend everything into a paste. (Here's a little secret. Instead of the ginger and garlic you can use 2 tablespoons of ginger garlic paste. You can buy it in most Asian grocery shops.)
Back to the pressure cooker. I add 1 teaspoon of salt to the now lovely onion (test your own salt, everyone salts differently), a teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon of garam masala and 1 and ½ teaspoons of red paprika, and stir. It turns into a nice looking mixture, and I pour the prepared paste over it. I stir for a while and then top it up with hot water to about a quarter of the pot. On top I add 1 teaspoon of Kitchen King Masala.
I close the pressure cooker and let it cook on a low flame. Our pressure cooker whistles nicely, so that's how I keep track. After it whistles three times, I take it off the heat, and once it cools down I open it and serve. I'd guess it cooks for about 15 to 20 minutes.
We eat it with chapati or rice. I put chopped raw onion on top of the sauce on the plate.
I hope you enjoy cooking from my recipe, and I'd really appreciate your feedback!
Yours, Mimosa
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Mimosa Confiante
By day, I work somewhere between marketing, copy and campaigns; by night, I usually end up somewhere between fanfiction, cosplay and yet another “what if” that refuses to leave me alone. I write mainly in the Harry Potter and Mo Dao Zu Shi fandoms, most often Snarry, Snamione, HarryLu and WangXian. My healthcare background means that anatomy, medicine and far too much research occasionally find their way into my stories. Cosplay is another way for me to play with the characters I love, whether I stay close to canon or turn them into my own fanfiction and AU versions. In Diary of a Slytherin Girl with ADHD, I write openly about life with a brain that usually has far too many tabs open at once.
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