Rajma Masala served over Jeera Rice

When I was doing summer special Java course, I happened to meet a bunch of North Indian girls whose parents got transferred all the way from Northern Delhi to Southern Guntur. These girls were a month senior at my computer institute and in no time we got bonded like BFF…..the only sole reason was….at that time in my class only three students use to speak clear Hindi……Apart from chatting and comparing over education system, climate, traditions, cultures in north to south….we use to talk a lot about food. During those conversations I came across many new recipe names, ingredients and methods of cooking and serving them. Of many recipes I penned during that time, Rajma Masala is one of them. At that time, in the early of 2000, I have never heard of Rajma aka Kidney Beans…..but after polishing off by drooling over a delicious and creamy tiffin box full of rajma masala…I scribbled the recipe at the back of my computer notebook. Later that evening after coming home I penned it in my recipe dairy, in which I have listed recipes from magazines, newspaper and more from at that time cookery show Khana Khazana over the period of time.

After coming to Bangalore, I found Rajma Masala in the menu card of many restaurants and to my surprise Rajma was easily available in any grocery store. Though I have watched, tried and tasted many recipes of “Rajma Masala” over the period of time….the one I penned years back is still a special and yum recipe to me….may be because of the lovely warm memories associated with the recipe.

Today I dusted my recipe dairy to share with you this delicious recipe of Rajma Masala as part of our monthly Muslim Food Blogger Challenge which is turning a year this month and the theme for this month is to choose the missed challenge. I missed three challenges of the event and in which Cooking from the Scrapbook is one of them. So for this challenge, I went through my recipe dairy and finally settled to make this Rajma Masala. By the time I finished cooking and platting it to click pictures…the weather turned gloomy and it started to rain. The heavenly showers, gloomy sky, light music, nostalgic memories of computer class and heavenly aroma of Rajma Masala with Jeera Rice….sums me up to say…Allhumdulliah Life Is Awesome….I leave you here with the recipe….Do try this out over weekend and leave your comments….

Rajma Masala

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup Rajma, washed thoroughly and soaked in water for 8-10 hours or overnight
• 2 Onions, sliced finely
• 1 Tomato, finely chopped
• 2 Green chilies, chopped
• ¾ tbsp. Red Chili powder
• ¼ tbsp. Turmeric powder
• ½ tbsp. roasted Coriander powder
• ½ tbsp. roasted Cumin powder
• ½ tbsp. Ginger-Garlic paste
• ½ tbsp. Garam Masala
• ½ tbsp. dry Mango powder (Amchur Powder)
• ½ cup low-fat Milk, or Cream
• 2 tbsp. minced Coriander leaves
• 3 tbsp. Oil
• Salt, as per taste

PREPARATION:

• Rinse rajma once more and throw the water. Add rajma to pressure cooker along with 6-8 cups of water.
• Pressure cook for 8-10 whistles or until rajma turns soft (not mushy). Wait till pressure settles. Drain and collect water. Set both aside.
• In a skillet/kadai, add oil and fry sliced onions. When the onions start to turn translucent add chopped tomatoes and green chilies.
• Fry until tomatoes turn mushy. Now add ginger-garlic paste and fry till raw smell wafts.
• Reduce the flame and stir in red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and salt. Stir well.
• To this add pressure cooked rajma and half of water in which rajma was pressure cooked. Stir well.
• Simmer for 8-10 minutes by covering with a lid. When the gravy is nearing to your desired consistency, stir in garam masala and dry mango powder.
• Stir in milk or cream and turn of the flame. Sprinkle minced coriander leaves and serve hot with roti or rice.
• I served this Rajma Masala with Jeera Rice. You can even serve this Rajma Masala with plain Basmati Rice.
• Add love to make this Rajma Masala taste ‘Yummy’.

Check out what my Muslim Facebook Group buddies have cooked for this monthly event of ‘Muslim Food Blogger Challenge’ by clicking on the links below…