Rajma (Kidney Bean Curry)

So so so yummy! I don't have a pressure cooker so I started at step 4 using canned beans. Quick, easy and delicious weeknight meal! Didn't bother making a paste, just cut the onions, garlic, and ginger fine. Next time I will add more liquid, mine didn't have enough of a sauce. I'll also add more tomatoes next time, I only had one fresh tomato on hand so I used that plus 2 canned whole peeled plum tomatoes from the fridge.

This turned out PERFECT! I made a few minor variations to the recipe. I used one large sweet onion and one small shallot, and grated them rather than chopped them. I didn't have red chili peppers at hand, so I used one fresh green chili pepper cut very fine instead. I also used one can (8 oz) of tomato sauce instead of fresh tomatoes. I added the garam masala in with the tomato sauce instead of at the end. My family doesn't like things too spicy, so I left out the ground red pepper. And my pressure cooker operates differently, so I had to adjust the cook time--it took about 10 minutes to reach full pressure, and 20 minutes cooking after that. This sounds like a lot of changes! but really, I had the recipe before me the entire time and just made small changes that I thought would work better for me. The rajma is DELICIOUS, and I can't wait to try out more of Susmita-di's recipes!

Thanks for sharing this delicious, spicy vegetarian recipe with a nice hint of heat from the chilli peppers. I used all of the ingredients but I had to make a few changes in the preparation method because I don't have a pressure cooker and had only canned kidney beans. At the Step 4 part, I added my rinsed canned beans to the pot and added just enough water to cover the beans (not the full amount listed in the ingredients) and give a bit of sauce. I then brought the curry to a boil and let it simmer for about 10 minutes or so. The whole dish was prepared in about 40 minutes. I served it with jeera rice as suggested. It was really tasty and satisfying and I'll be making it again. I look forward to trying more of the other recipes that you've posted on AR.

This dish was wonderfully aromatic and flavorful, as well as filling. I served with Palak Paneer and brown basmati rice. One precaution: go easy on the ghee. I found it could easily overpower the dish and cause to be a bit too rich.

Tasted like plain old beans.... I won;t be making these again.

This is very good way to prepare kidney beans. I didn't have a pressure cooker, so I cooked it in a skillet. The dish is perfectly seasoned, spicy and very nutricious. Next time I will serve it with a light vegetable salad.

Great, and easy, way to prepare kidney beans. While preparing I left out the chile peppers because I don't like spicy foods, and added a dash of lime at the end to perk up the flavors in the dish. The lime was a great addition. Also, I waited until the water was boiling before putting the lid on the pressure cooker, then cooked over med-low heat for 20 minutes. Turned off the heat and waited until the pressure stick on the lid went down (on its own) and served over jeera rice. Delicious.

Very good...added a little cornstarch to thicken and make a gravy and a little Knorr chicken bullion....DELICIOUS!!!

Smelled fabulous, but was a bit bland in the spice and heat category (so saith the men in the family). Had to switch to food processor when onion became overwhelming in my mortar and pestle. Used canned crushed tomatoes, added previously cooked/marinated chicken, and did this stove-top with dried beans that were cooked in the morning. Will use recipe again, but at least double the spices and peppers for my heat loving guys.

Excellent dish, I like heat so I added 6 dried red Chilies plus 2-3 fresh thai chilies. That perked it up a bit. My work mate from Hyderabad enjoyed it too.

As the author said, cheap and comforting. Had it with chappati. Nothing fancy but still a good vegetarian curry.

This is an awesome recipe. I tried it today and it came out very good. I cooked 1 cup of dried kidney beans, so I had to halve every measurement. I did have to 1 extra tomato, though. So, I had to use 2 tomatoes for 1 cup of dried kidney beans.

I didn't have all the spices listed, so I ad-libbed with what I had. Substituting ground spices for seeds and pods. Served it on top of brown rice. My husband & I thought this was out-of-this-world! Very satisfying! Next time, I will go buy the missing spices and make it according to this recipe. I can hardly wait!

my first time making this dish ...n followed it step by step... a good one

This was an easy recipe and the results were amazing. I will be making this again.

This was a wonderful recipe. The aroma of blooming all the wonderful spices made my mouth water before even starting up the pressure. I had garlic naan bread instead of rice. Instead of the mortar, I used a small food processor and ran it until everything was smooth. Whole Foods has some terrific garam masala. I can hardly wait to try some of your other recipes.

Delicious recipe. I didn't have a few of the materials this recipe called for (pressure cooker, mortal and pestle), but I worked around that and kept all the ingredients the same. It tasted great, I will make again.

I used a cup of rajma, and 4.5Xwater and then followed the recipie exactly. It was awesome. Oh and I finely chopped everything as it is faster to cook the base masala. Thank you.

My first time with this recipe. Admittedly I had to ad-lib with the spices as I didn't have everything on hand, but the fake-up was fragrant and tasty; the house still smelled wonderful next morning. The squash I threw in soaked up the flavour nicely--but the beans did not, though they were soft enough to eat. I also wondered at the quantity of water asked for, but used it anyhow for safety's sake (pressure cooking newbie). The result was a lot of spicy "soup", so I served the rajma in bowls over rice, which soaked up the yummy water very nicely. Maybe the extra-water and bland-bean issues would be resolved if I could cook at 15lb pressure instead of the maximum 13lb that my cooker allows, or if next time I just cook the recipe for a bit longer than stated.

Delicious and satisfying. I don't have a working pressure cooker so cooked dried beans and then just added in step 3. Because I had already cooked the beans I needed to add liquid so, I added about 1/3 - 1/2 cup chicken broth which won't work if you're vegetarian but definitely added a richness to the dish, but I'm sure veggie broth or water would work, as well.

I don't have a pressure cooker, so I had to adjust the recipe. The flavor was meh, there was no identifiable spice . I ended up biting into one of the whole cloves , not pleasant.

Dish was OK. When the dish was finished cooking I found it lacking in flavour and texture so I added a cup of tomato sauce, another tsp of cumin, garam masala, and a pinch cinnamon. this made the recipe a 4 star.

Tasty and addictive.

Sorry, I also meant to add that 3 out of the 4 people in my household despise cilantro -- to them it tastes soapy and unpleasant -- so I used pea shoots instead. They worked very nicely.

great vegetarian dish, very easy to make. i added a whole sweet potato and extra spices. excellent for storing in portions to defrost for a quick wholesome dinner. only dislike is the cloves, but that is a personal taste

My whole family loved it, even my daughter who hates beans!

The only thing that I changed was instead of dry beans I used can beans. OMG the food is/was amazing and with coconut rice! Delicious !

Great! Needed more pepper though, although my use of New Mexico Hatch chilis might be the reason.

I loved the aromas. however, My family did not enjoy it. I think it asked for too much turmeric and maybe cloves, these are both in the garam masala anyway. My husband is Indian and he didn't think it had enough flavour. I do think its because the turmeric over powered everything. I will try it but use the garam masala only.

Tasty, great dish!

I don't have a pressure cooker, but I doubt that is why I didn't like the results. It was improved by adding quite a lot of oil/butter, but it really seemed to lack something that I could not identify. Adding butter made it good enough to pack in my lunch for a few days along with basmati rice. However, I won't make this recipe again. I will continue my search for a good recipe for Rajma.

My other review accidentally posted before I was done. Using the techniques I learned jn my Indian cooking class and using the proper while spices, this dish was nothing short of fabulous. I added a few whole peppercorns, half a cinnamon stick, and used 1 can diced tomatoes and one can tomato sauce instead of the fresh tomatoes. I don't have a pressure cooker so I used 4 cans of kidney beans drained and rinsed. I also browned the finely diced onion with the whole spices instead of adding it to the ginger/garlic paste. I served over peas pulav made with basmati rice and naan. YUMMY!!

I had to decreases the amount of red pepper because of family members. I personally enjoy the heat. Good recipe

This was so fetching good. I now understand why it is referenced as comfort food. Just thinking about it makes me comfortable. The people saying it tasted like plain beans probably lacked some of the crucial spices and were too lazy to go get them at the store. Don't be lazy, go on adventure. get the ghee spices. If you don't have a p. cooker. Use canned beans and cook an hour. If it doesn't have enough flavor add more until it does. I double down on the ghee and cumin, and god dang i was in kidney bean heaven thereafter.

I couldn’t really remember the recipe that my grandmother used to make in India and this is pretty close because it took me back to my childhood. Very good!

This is good

I loved the aromas. however, My family did not enjoy it. I think it asked for too much turmeric and maybe cloves, these are both in the garam masala anyway. My husband is Indian and he didn't think it had enough flavour. I do think its because the turmeric over powered everything. I will try it but use the garam masala only.

I followed this recipe exactly, cooking it in my new WMF Perfect Plus pressure cooker (which I highly recommend.). Rich, multi-layered flavors. Amazing! My only question is, what is ground red pepper? Cayenne?

I did not make any changes to the recipe and it was delish. Will make it another time for sure.

This was very good, and my family liked it a lot. I used canned beans, ginger-garlic paste, and a can of diced tomatoes. I might use tomato sauce next time. (I'm all about the shortcuts when I'm cooking at the end of a weekday!) Had it with cumin rice, and it was definitely something we'll have again.