Rajma (Punjabi red kidney beans)
- Published: 11 Nov 15
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
Chef Atul Kochhar shares his traditinal Punjabi recipe of red kidney beans in a recipe that supports Action Against Hunger.
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Serves 4-6 as a side dish
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Hands-on time 25 min, simmering time 2 hours, plus overnight soaking
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Ingredients
- 300g dried red kidney beans
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
- 1 black cardamom pod, bruised
- 2 large onions, very finely chopped
- 1 tsp each garlic paste and ginger paste (see Know-how)
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp cumin seeds, lightly toasted in a dry pan, then ground in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 200ml passata
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
- ¼ tsp garam masala
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Method
- Soak the kidney beans overnight in plenty of cold water, then drain and rinse. Simmer the beans over a medium heat in 1 litre water with 1 tsp salt until tender (about 11⁄2 hours), then drain and reserve the liquid. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the cardamom pod and onions for about 5 minutes until golden brown. Add the garlic and ginger pastes, then cook until the oil separates from the mixture.
- Add the ground coriander, cumin and turmeric, cook gently for 2 minutes, then add the passata. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the cooked beans, 500ml of the reserved cooking water, remaining tsp salt and half the chopped coriander.
- Simmer on a low heat for about 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle with the garam masala, then simmer for 5 minutes more, adding more bean water if it’s too dry. Serve sprinkled with the rest of the coriander.
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- Recipe from October 2015 Issue
Nutrition
Nutrition: per serving
- Calories
- 210kcals
- Fat
- 3.4g (0.3g saturated)
- Protein
- 12.3g
- Carbohydrates
- 26.4g (5.3g sugars)
- Fibre
- 12.5g
- Salt
- 1.9g
delicious. tips
It’s important to soak the kidney beans overnight – so you need to plan ahead and start the recipe the day before you want to serve it.
Garlic paste is mashed up garlic, and ginger paste is grated fresh ginger. Make it yourself in large batches – it’s better than the shop-bought stuff. Mix with a little oil and salt and freeze in ice cube trays for 2 months. Once thawed it will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge.
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