Once upon a time long long ago in a village sort of little town in western India, I spent almost 2 years of my life. It gave me a completely different personality. The shy, hesitant person that lived inside me gave way to a more confident, outspoken me. I loved it. I remember the road to reach to my work place was a patch of land which you can not call road. It was a truly Indian sort of road made up of mud where you would never feel like walking on foot. Usually you would find people riding cycles or cars. The left side of the road used to be occupied by small wooden shops selling cheap food while the right side used be taken up by giant factories making pvc pipes. In the mornings I would notice uncountable people getting inside the main entrance with lunch boxes in their hands, lunches of all kinds tall stack on kinds, small rectangular or some with none.
Most of the people working would either bring lunch boxes from home which usually consisted of a meal of Indian flat bread and a vegetable mix along with a dish of lentil. I always found the meals inside those lunch boxes kind of fancy. Every one had a different taste, a certain kind of aroma.
We had a very nice cafeteria which used to serve us fresh food. I used to enjoy most of the dishes made there. One day I noticed they had made Rajma for lunch. I was super excited as it used to be one of favourite beans recipe. But ewwww, it was sweet. It tasted as if someone had accidentally poured in a jar full of sugar in it. I enjoy sweet in the form of sweets not in my food. That experience made me kind of start hating this recipe. Now after almost a year later I decided to give it a try myself. I searched for recipes and then decided to give it a try in my own way. It is a very healthy dish by itself as it is a wholesome source of beans.
Tastes best when served with hot rice and cold yogurt.
P.S I am in search for good quick winter dinner recipe. Would appreciate to get some ideas!
P.P.S Today I am submitting B/W picture for B/W wednesday hosted by Lail of “With a spin“. This is my first time ever participating in B/W event and I am all excited to see other entries from fellow bloggers.
This event has been going on for long hosted by ever talented Cinzia of “Cindystar”
- Red kidney beans : ⅔ cup, soaked overnight (soaking part is optional)
- 3-4 cloves
- 2-3 small cinnamon stick pieces
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- ½ cup finely chopped onions
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes
- Salt to taste
- Wash the kidney beans. Put them in a pressure cooker with generous amount of salt. If beans have been soaked over night then you probably need the cooker to give 4-5 whistles otherwise 9-10 whistles. Do check it to make sure if the beans are properly done or not.
- Now in a pan, add oil. Add cloves, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves and let them cook for a minute or two. Add the finely chopped onions and saute them till onions get light golden brown.
- Add ginger garlic paste. Mix it all up and cook it for a minute. Add chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and saute it till tomatoes become soft.
- Add boiled rajma to it with salt and the left over water from boiled kidney beans. In case you feel the gravy is less, you can add some water. Cover it and let it simmer it for 20-30 minutes.
- Serve it hot with hot rice and cold chilled yogurt.
More Indian Inspired Recipes:
Hi Ami – I have not received any images from you on the email address that was provided. Since this is your first time, if you send me your images right away, I’ll add them to the gallery. Send the pics to elegancemeetschic {at} yahoo {dot} com
I just did! Sorry because I had no idea that I was supposed to email the pic. Well better luck to me for next time 🙂