Kidney Beans in a Rich Garlic Sauce (Rajma)

I have prepared the red kidney beans so many times but this one had to be different. With a good amount of garlic pumped in, the gravy was sumptuous and went well with the Sunday lunch. Inspiration? from a local restaurant nearby. The usual red kidney beans was served with a garlic kick and if that wasn’t enough, they had added whole garlic cloves which just melted with the kidney beans and tasted heavenly! Since then my mind was buzzing to recreate the dish at home. What a way to enjoy the Sunday lunch with kidney beans cooked in a rich garlic gravy…Also called Rajma, this is a popular north Indian dish that can be prepared within a short span of time and goes well with rice/rotis. The recipe can be tweaked in a number of ways to suit your palette.

Kidney beans in a rich garlic sauce

Red kidney beans cooked in a rich spicy Indian gravy with an inherent touch of garlic.

Ingredients

• Red Kidney beans- 1 cup (soaked overnight in water)
• Onions (finely chopped)- 2
• Tomatoes (pureed)- 3 (medium tomatoes)
• Garlic cloves- 8-9 (crush and chop -4, retain the rest)
• Grated ginger (1/2 tsp)
• Red chilli powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder- 3/4 tbsp
• Garam Masala powder- 1 tsp
• Ghee (clairified butter)- for cooking (roughly 2 tbsp)
• Salt according to taste.
• Chopped coriander leaves (for garnishing)
• Cumin seeds – 3/4 tsp
• Kasoori Methi -dry leaves crushed (Fenugreek leaves-dried) (3/4 tsp)

Instructions

1. Pressure cook kidney beans (with 4 cups of water) till they are soft and melt in your mouth (retain the water you use for cooking the beans).
2. In a pan, add ghee and as it melts pop in the cumin seeds.
3. As the seeds begin to sputter, add bay leaves and onions.
4. Fry the onions till they become golden brown.
5. Add crushed garlic and ginger and saute them for a couple of minutes.
6. Add pureed tomatoes and continue to cook on a medium flame.
7. Add coriander powder, garam masala and red chilli powder and cook till the oil leaves the masala.
8. Add the remaining garlic cloves- do not chop or crush them.
9. Add the cooked kidney beans to this mixture and add the water you retained.
10. Adjust salt according to taste and allow the beans to cook and blend in with the masala.
11. Allow the mixture to cook on a low flame for 10-15 minutes.
12. Add dry kasoori methi (fenugreek leaves) leaves and give it a quick toss.
13. Add chopped coriander leaves for garnishing and serve hot with rice!

Published  @ Honest Cooking -http://honestcooking.com/2011/12/27/kidney-beans-in-a-rich-garlic-sauce/

Vegetable Jalfrezi

This one is a simple and easy to cook recipe-Vegetable stir-fry with Indian spices. Bring on the vegetables and saute it with coriander powder and garam masala to create a perfect infusion. You can vary the vegetables for this dish and spice it up with red chilli powder.

What do we need? 


Vegetables used


Cauliflower florets - 1 cup
Peas - 1/2 cup
Potatoes - chopped in cubes - 1 cup
Carrot- chopped in slices - 1 cup
Green bell peppers - 1/2 cup
Green chilli - 1 (chopped) or Broken red chilli pieces
Onions - 2 medium (sliced)
Tomato- 1 (blanch it, remove the skin, deseed it and then chop to bits)

** Note, the cup size measurement usually varies from household to household. I used a small sized serving cup, you could use a small soup bowl or cup. what matters is the spice level- if you can handle good spice, notch it up a bit higher and vice versa.

Spices used


Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala powder- 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Ginger (minced)- 1/2 tsp
Garlic (minced) - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt according to taste-

Preparation-

• Step 1 will be to blanch the chopped vegetables (cauliflower, carrot, potatoes). All the vegetables take different cooking time, so you will have to be patient with each vegetable. For example, potatoes take longer time to cook whereas cauliflower takes lesser time and carrot takes medium time. Get the water boiling and boil the potatoes first- a word of caution, don't over boil anything- the vegetables should be tender and cooked not mushy. Once the potatoes are cooked to a medium level, add the carrots and after a few minutes add cauliflower florets and in the end peas-
• Alternatively, you can microwave the vegetables till tender/soft (not mushy).
• In a wok add oil (about 2 tbsp) and once hot, add cumin seeds.
• As the cumin seeds start to sputter, add green chillies/broken red chilli pieces, onions and cook them till onions become golden brown.
• Add minced garlic and ginger and cook for few minutes
• Add tomatoes and cook the ingredients on a medium flame for a couple of minutes.
• Add the boiled vegetables and green bell pepper.
• Spice it up with red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and garam masala
• Add salt and about a tablespoon of oil and toss the vegetables together with the spice.
• Saute the vegetables for 5-8 minutes- Add chopped coriander leaves for garnishing and serve!