Rajma Chaval

Blogging has definitely taken a backseat with the little one around. I have been cooking a lot lately but most of the dishes are what we make at home on everyday basis.

This is one of my favorite combi meal. My sister R often used to make Rajma curry with ghee rice. I still remember the taste that she used to make :) This is somewhere close to how she makes it but not entirely the same.

This is not an authentic recipe and it is how we make it at home. We had the curry with jeera rice. I used Maggi bhuna masala as I had a packet of it :) You can substitute this with tomato-onion paste.

For the Rajma masala:

1 cup Rajma beans (Soaked for at least 6hrs and cooked until soft)

1 big tomato (blanched and pureed)

3 medium Onions (chopped fine)

1 packet maggi bhuna masala

or

fry 2 medium onions and 2 tomatoes with ginger garlic paste and puree

2 bay leaf

2 tbsp red chilli powder (increase according to your taste)

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

a big pinch kasuri methi

1/4 tsp amchur powder

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp garam masala powder

oil/ghee

salt to taste

Procedure:

1) Heat oil. Add bay leaf. Add chopped onions and fry until golden.

2) Add tomato puree & maggi bhuna masala. Fry well.

3) Add the spice powders and fry till oil seprates.

4) Add rajma. Reserve 2 tbsp of rajma and puree it. Add salt to taste and rajma puree & water(Use the water used to cook rajma).

5) When it boils add kasuri methi and cook till done. When done garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice and salad.

Jeera rice:

I have already posted a recipe for jeera rice. This is another method making jeera rice in jiffy using pressure cooker. I have used plain sona masuri rice and this gets done in flat 10 mins.

Here is what's needed:

1 cup Sona masuri rice washed

2 onions sliced

2 tbsp oil/ghee

1 tbsp Cumin seeds/jeera

1 bay leaf

4 cloves

4 green cardamoms

1" Cinnamon stick

salt to taste

Coriander leaves to garnish

Procedure:

1) Heat oil in pressure cooker. Add jeera when it splutters add the whole spices.

2) Add sliced onions and fry till golden.

3) Add rice and fry for a while. Add 2 cups of water, salt to taste and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

4) When done fluff with a fork, garnish with coriander leaves.

We washed this down with a glass of mango milkshake topped with yummy vanilla ice cream.

For the milk shake i just blended ripe mango slices with sugar & chilled milk. Served it with vanilla ice cream.