Homestyle Punjabi Rajma

5 from 12 votes

Comforting and vegan, this homestyle Punjabi Rajma is made with basic pantry ingredients and this recipe makes the most comforting bowl of rajma you will ever have!

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Total Time1 15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings:

Author: Manali Singh

Ingredients

1 & ½ cups rajma/dry kidney beans 300 grams
4-5 cups water divided, as needed
1 & ½ teaspoon salt divided
1 & ½ tablespoon oil 22 ml , I used avocado oil
1 large red onion 200 grams , very finely chopped using a food processor or pureed
1 & ½ teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
2 medium tomatoes 215 grams
1 & ½ teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon cumin powder
¼ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder or use regular chili powder to make it spicy
¼ teaspoon fennel powder
⅛-¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon garam masala

Instructions

Rinse and soak 1&½ cups kidney beans (rajma) overnight in 4 to 5 cups of water. In the morning, drain the water in which the rajma was soaked and rinse the beans.
Add the rinsed and drained beans to a pressure cooker. Add 3 & ½ cups of fresh water along with 1 teaspoon salt. Close the lid and pressure cook in high heat for 1 to 2 whistles. Once it gets 1-2 whistles, lower the heat to medium-low and let it cook for 30 mins.
Work on the masala while the kidney beans are cooking. To a pan on medium heat add 1 & ½ tablespoon oil. Then add 1 large onion (finely grated or pureed).
Stir often and cook the onions for 7 to 8 minutes until they turn light golden brown in color and have no raw smell. Then add 1&½ ginger-garlic paste and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add 2 medium tomatoes (pureed), and cook the tomatoes for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring often until the tomatoes are soft and done. Then add 1 & ½ teaspoon coriander powder, ½ teaspoon cumin powder, ¼ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, ¼ teaspoon fennel powder, ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder and ¼ teaspoon salt. Stir and cook the spices for 1 to 2 minutes. The masala is now done, you can remove it in a bowl.
Once the 30 minutes are up, let the pressure from the pressure cooker be released naturally. This happens alongside while you make the masala so by the time the masala is done, the rajma has also pressure cooked and the pressure cooker is ready to be opened.
Open the pressure cooker, the kidney beans are soft by now.
Now add the prepared masala to the pressure cooker. Stir and add ½ to 1 cup more water at this point. Close the lid and pressure cook again on medium heat for a total of 10 minutes. You don't really want a whistle at this point, so don't put the cooker on high heat.
After 10 minutes, turn off heat and let the pressure release naturally. Now, once the pressure has released, open the cooker, and turn on the heat again on low-medium. Let the rajma simmer on low-medium heat for 15 minutes. Towards the last 5 minutes, add in ¼ teaspoon garam masala.
Tastes test and adjust salt as needed, I added ¼ teaspoon more salt here. You can also add more water as the rajma is simmering to make it thinner and adjust the consistency as needed. This rajma makes quite thick rajma so keep that in mind. It will also continue to thicken as it cools.
After simmering for 15 mins, the rajma is now done. Serve hot with rice!

Video

Notes

As is often the case with dishes like chole and rajma, they taste even better the next day. So, the leftovers are even better for lunch!
This Punjabi rajma recipe isn't spicy, to make it spicier you can add a finely chopped green chili along with the onion. You can also add some hot red chili powder along with the spices.
The consistency of this rajma is on the thicker side, you can add more water to make it thinner. The rajma thickens more as it cools down.

Nutrition