The BEST Rajma Chawal Recipe! It’s a healthy, flavorful recipe that is so easy to make and it’s one of those dinners everyone sure enjoys it.
Serve it with Indian onion salad (lachha pyaaz), yogurt and mango pickle for a perfectly cozy meal.
Rajma is the Hindi word for red kidney beans. Here beans are cooked on medium spicy onion-tomato gravy.
Chawal is the Hindi word for rice. Here I have cooked basmati rice to go with rajma.
A combination of rajma chawal makes a comforting, healthy and filling meal.
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❤️You’ll Love This Recipe
It may remind you of your mom’s or grandma’s cooking.
- Great for meal prep: Make extra when you make for dinner, it makes a great make-ahead lunch.
- Dietary needs: Vegan, Gluten-free, Nut-free
- Healthy: Kidney beans are high in protein as well as high in fiber, folate and magnesium.
- Requires basic ingredients: This rajma chawal recipe calls for basic pantry ingredients that are easily available in the Indian pantry.
🧾Ingredient Notes
Here is the pic of Rajma curry ingredients. For making chawal you’ll need basmati rice, salt and water.
- Rajma: There are many different types of rajma available in Indian grocery stores. They vary in size and color. You can use any variety you get your hands on. Keep in mind that boiling rajma time may vary depending on which one you are using.
I prefer to use dark-colored rajma. They hold their shape after cooking and they absorb the flavors very well.
- Onion: When it comes to Indian cooking, I prefer to use red onions instead of white or yellow. Red onions lend a nice flavor to the curry.
- Tomatoes: When it comes to Indian cooking, I prefer to use fresh tomatoes vs canned ones.
TIP: I highly recommend using Roma tomatoes which are nice and ripe. Stay away from beefsteak or vine-ripe tomatoes which makes the gravy super sour.
- Garam masala: I have used homemade garam masala. But you can use a store-bought one. Or use store-bought rajma masala powder instead.
👩🍳Step By Step Photo Instructions
Preparation:
1) A day before: Wash the rajma under running cold water until the water runs clear. Or rinse them with tap water 2-3 times or until the water is not cloudy anymore. Soak in enough water for at least 8 hours or overnight. After the soaking time, they get lighter in color, almost double in size and some beans may have wrinkly skin. Discard the soaking water.
2) When you start cooking: Wash or rinse the basmati rice using cold water until water is clear and no more cloudy. Soak in enough water for 15-20 minutes.
3) Roughly chop onion, tomato, ginger, garlic and green chili.
4) Then grind into a smooth puree and keep it ready.
Start making rajma:
1) Heat the oil in a pressure cooker on medium heat. Once hot add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.
2) Add the prepared onion-tomato puree. As it starts boiling, it may splutter a lot, so you can partially cover it with a lid.
3) And continue cooking until most of the moisture is evaporated and it becomes a thick paste.
4) Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and salt.
5) Mix well and cook for a minute.
6) Add drained, soaked kidney beans along with fresh water. Stir well. Cover the cooker with a lid, put the weight on and cook on medium heat for 1 whistle then lower the heat and cook for 15 minutes.
Make chawal while rajma is pressure cooking:
7) Drain the water from soaking rice. Take this rice with fresh water and salt in a saucepan. Turn the heat on medium-high and let it come to a rolling boil.
8) Once it starts boiling, lower the heat to the lowest possible, cover it with a lid and cook for 17-18 minutes. Then turn off the stove and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Back to the rajma:
9) Pressure has released naturally, open the lid and check the kidney beans. If should mash easily. If not cooked, you can again pressure cook it for some more time. Also, check the gravy consistency. If it is too liquidy then let it simmer for few minutes till you get desired consistency. If it is too thick, then add a splash of water and simmer for 2 minutes.
10) Add amchur and garam masala, mix well.
11) Add chopped cilantro.
12) Mix well and it is ready.
13) Now back to rice, it has rested for 10 minutes, open the lid.
14) Fluff up the rice using a fork. Serve rajma chawal piping hot.
💭Expert Tips
Forgot to soak the beans? Here’s Quick Soaking Method: Take beans and plenty of water in a pan. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Then turn off the stove and cover tightly with a lid. Let it sit for 1 hour. Voila, after 1 hour your beans are at the same stage where you have after overnight soaking.
Soaking beans is an important step. You may find much info about cooking unsoaked beans all around the internet. But I do not recommend that. Soaking beans not only reduce the cooking time but less loss of water-soluble nutrients due to less exposure to heat. Hence helps in digestion plus makes super soft, buttery inside texture rajma.
Yes, I highly prefer the overnight soaking vs quick soaking method.
🍽 Serving Ideas
Rajma chawal combination itself is a filling meal. But serving some sides will perk up the meal. You can have roasted papad and laccha pyaaz or mango pickle on the side.
Skip the rice making steps and serve the curry with paratha or roti.
Instead of making simple rice, you can have it with jeera rice or mild pulao like peas pulao, capsicum pulao.
FAQs
Yes, you can. Please use 1 can (15 oz) of kidney beans but skip the soaking step. Also, cook in a pressure cooker just for 1 whistle and do quick pressure release manually.
The old batch of beans will take longer to cook. So when you open the pressure cooker, check the doneness by pressing one bean. If it looks hard then you can add a little more water (if needed) and cook for 2-3 more whistles.
- Sometimes really an old (stale) batch of beans will never get soft. In this case, you should discard those and need to buy a new fresh pack of kidney beans.
It happens sometimes when you are grinding the raw onions. How to avoid that? Remove the stem and bottom root of the onion completely. If a single piece of root is present. The gravy will be bitter. Been there done that.
Follow the same steps, cook onion tomato puree on saute mode. After adding rajma and water, cook on manual (high pressure) for 25 minutes. Let it NPR.
Check Out Other Punjabi Meals
- Kadhi pakora with chawal
- Chole bhature
- Sarson ka saag with makki ki roti
- Aloo paratha with pickle, chutney and yogurt
PS Tried this rajma chawal recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comment section. I always appreciate your feedback! Plus, Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for all the latest updates.
📋 Recipe Card
Rajma Chawal
Ingredients
For Rajma:
- 1 cup Rajma (Red kidney beans)
- 1 medium or 1 cup Red onion roughly chopped
- 1 inch Ginger roughly chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic chopped
- 1 Green chili chopped
- 2 small or 1 cup Tomato roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons Oil
- ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds
- Salt to taste
- 1 ½ teaspoons Red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder
- 1 ¾ cups Water
- ½ teaspoon Amchur powder (dried mango powder)
- ½ teaspoon Garam masala
- 2 tablespoons Cilantro or coriander leaves finely chopped
For Chawal:
- 1 cup Basmati rice
- 2 cups Water
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Preparation (A day before): Wash the rajma under running cold water until the water runs clear. Or rinse them with tap water 2-3 times or until the water is not cloudy anymore. Soak in enough water for at least 8 hours or overnight. After the soaking time, they get lighter in color, almost double in size and some beans may have wrinkly skin. Discard the soaking water.
- When you start cooking: Wash or rinse the basmati rice using cold water until water is clear and no more cloudy. Soak in enough water for 15-20 minutes.
- Roughly chop onion, tomato, ginger, garlic and green chili. Then grind into a smooth puree and keep it ready.
- Start making rajma: Heat the oil in a pressure cooker on medium heat. Once hot add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.
- Add the prepared onion-tomato puree. As it starts boiling, it may splutter a lot, so you can partially cover it with a lid. And continue cooking until most of the moisture is evaporated and becomes a thick paste.
- Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and salt. Mix well and cook for a minute.
- Add drained, soaked kidney beans along with fresh water. Stir well. Cover the cooker with a lid, put the weight on and cook on medium heat for 1 whistle then lower the heat and cook for 15 minutes.
- Make chawal while rajma is pressure cooking: Drain the water from soaking rice. Take this rice with fresh water and salt in a saucepan. Turn the heat on medium-high and let it come to a rolling boil.
- Once it starts boiling, lower the heat to the lowest possible, cover it with a lid and cook for 17-18 minutes. Then turn off the stove and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Back to the rajma and pressure has released naturally, open the lid and check the kidney beans. If should mash easily. If not cooked, you can again pressure cook it for some more time. Also, check the gravy consistency. If it is too liquidy then let it simmer for few minutes till you get desired consistency. If it is too thick, then add a splash of water and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add amchur and garam masala, mix well.
- Add chopped cilantro. Mix well and it is ready.
- Now back to rice, it has rested for 10 minutes, open the lid. Fluff up the rice using a fork. Serve rajma chawal piping hot.
Shivani
Good i tried.
Sujana
I made this last night and it came out fantastic. I liked this version of making the rajma because is easier and tastes so good!
Kanan
Thank you Sujana for the review.
Good to hear that you liked it
Nirav
Looks tempting and very easy to make. thanks for sharing.
Kanan
You're welcome