Rajma masala - Punjabi kidney bean curry, served here with rice (rajma chawal)

Rajma Masala

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Rajma masala - Punjabi kidney bean curry, served here with rice (rajma chawal)
Rajma masala - Punjabi kidney bean curry, served here with rice (rajma chawal)

Rajma Masala

South Asian Kidney Bean Curry

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This recipe for Rajma Masala (South Asian Kidney Bean Curry) is brought to you in collaboration with Love Canadian Beans, who have financially compensated me to develop it. 
All opinions are my own.

Rajma Masala - South Asian Kidney Bean Curry - is a rich, flavourful, wonderfully comforting vegetarian dish.  It's easy to adapt and modify to personal tastes and (best of all!) amazingly easy to whip up with the help of an electric pressure cooker (e.g. Instant Pot).

Take your masala, serve it over rice, and you've got rajma chawal - a filling, healthy, and deliciously simple meal that's sure to become a family favourite.

One of life's great joys is the discovery of comfort food. Of course, we all grow up with our own favourites, and everyone has a different idea of what exactly constitutes comfort food.  But that's just the thing - there are so many possibilities out there that you never know when someone else's recipe will become a favourite of your own. There's a literal world of comfort food just waiting for you to find it.

Rajma masala - a kidney bean curry originating in the Northern parts of the Indian subcontinent - is classic South Asian home cooking.  I was first introduced to it years ago in the book Vij's At Home by Meeru Dhalwala and Vikram Vij.  They describe the combination of kidney bean curry and rice (aka rajma chawal) as being a combination on par with macaroni and cheese, both in terms of universality and popularity.  I'm inclined to agree.

Rich in flavour and loaded with vegetarian protein, rajma masala is flavourful, filling, and wonderfully good for you.  But, in my opinion, one of the best things about it is just how adaptable it is.  No two cooks make rajma masala the same way.  You can change up the spices, vary the quantities of the ingredients, and modify the add-ins to your hearts content.

Regardless of whether or not you feel like adjusting things, I hope that you'll make good use of the technical aspects of this recipe.  I love cooking with beans, but I'll be honest - before I got an Instant Pot, I didn't use them nearly as much as I do now.  Electric pressure cooking makes dried bean recipes like this one ridiculously easy, and fast enough to be weeknight-friendly. Add a food processor or high-speed blender for prep and you get a curry recipe that's mercifully hands-off and perfectly simple.  Because after all, while we all love labour-of-love comfort food recipes, they're not going to be the ones we turn to when we're crunched for time and trying to feed a hungry family.

Of course not everyone is going to have the same kitchen gear.  For this reason, I've covered a wide variety of prep and cooking method variations in the notes below.  Even if you're quite new to South Asian cooking, you should find that you've got everything you need to absolutely nail (and, I hope, personalize) your rajma masala.  But if you're stuck or looking for ideas, you can always drop a comment or question below.

Rajma masala - Punjabi kidney bean curry

Recipe Notes

This section is broken up into a couple of sub-sections, so feel free to jump around if you're looking for any information in particular.

The notes ended up a little longer than I expected, given that this is actually a very simple recipe to make.  The details are really meant to help out any home cooks who are either a) newer to Indian cooking, or b) have struggled to get the results that they expected from Indian recipes.  The notes on kitchen equipment are focused on maximizing the simplicity of your prep steps.  The cooking method variations section is a brief overview of the differences between stove-top and Instant Pot methods.  You'll also find a related note about canned vs dried beans.  Finally, there's a little note about fine-tuning flavours.  If you've ever felt that your attempts at Indian home-cooking have fallen a little flat, you'll definitely want to take the time to read that section.

Kitchen Equipment

South Asian home cooking is made much easier if you have a few specific kitchen gadgets to cut down on your prep and/or cooking time - but it's still very accessible if you don't.  I want to take a moment to explain a couple of cooking tools, including how they relate to this recipe, and how you can work around them if necessary.

Spice Grinder

Spice grinders are great, as they make it simple to use whole spices.  Whole spices last longer, and grinding them yourself generally delivers bigger, bolder, more complex flavours.

I have a small dedicated spice grinder, but a coffee grinder works great too.  If you're going to use a coffee grinder that you also use for coffee, note that it needs to be very clean, or you're going to get coffee-flavoured curry and curry-flavoured coffee.

No spice grinder? You've got two options.  First, you can use pre-ground spices.  This is certainly the easiest option, thought it is worth noting that pre-ground spices tend to diminish in terms of flavour fairly quickly.  Replenish your spices, preferably in small quantities, every few months.  The second option is to use a mortar and pestle to grind your spices.  This manual method is traditional and effective, but requires a good mortar and pestle (and time!) in order to get nice, finely ground powder.

Blender and/or food processor

When it comes to making sauces, curries, chutneys, and other recipes, a little mechanical help can go a long way towards saving you some serious time.  I personally own both a high-speed blender and a food processor, and I've used both for South Asian cooking.  They're both great, but aren't entirely interchangeable.  A food processor will (generally) yield small, finely diced pieces.  A high-speed blender, on the other hand, tends to create a puree.  The differences is especially noticeable (and important) when it comes to onions.  In a recipe like this, a food processor will yield finely diced onions, with some 'juice.'  A blender, on the other hand, will yield a very wet onion puree.  This is because blending (or grinding) more thoroughly crushes the cell walls of the onions, thus releasing more liquid.

The difference is important for two key reasons.  First, purees will yield smoother sauces, while a dice will yield more textural dishes.  Second, the moisture content of a puree makes it harder to scorch/burn, which is worth paying attention to when you're cooking the ginger, garlic, and onions.

I have both a high speed blender and a food processor, but I personally prefer making recipes like this with my blender more often than not.  This is partly because I like saucy curries, and partly because it makes it especially easy to incorporate the combination of ginger and garlic found in so many South Asian recipes.

No blender OR food processor? No worries - while it does take more time, you can finely dice all of your veggies by hand.  They'll soften further when cooking (especially if you use a pressure cooker).  If you have an especially large mortar and pestle, you can also use this to puree your garlic, ginger, and onions.

Electric Pressure Cooker

An Instant Pot or similar electric pressure cooker makes this recipe - and a whole suite of Indian recipes - ridiculously easy.  As long as you can use both pressure cooking and saute functions, you're good to go.

If you have a manual pressure cooker and you're comfortable using it, it should be pretty simple to adapt this recipe.

If you don't have an electric pressure cooker, you can simply follow the instructions for the stove-top method instead.

Rajma masala - Punjabi kidney bean curry, served here with rice (rajma chawal)

Cooking Method Variations

I love cooking with beans, but I've never been big on soaking them ahead of time.  It's not that it's difficult or anything - I'm just rarely organized enough to remember to do something like that ahead of time.  Thankfully, electric pressure cookers (e.g. Instant Pot) are both prevalent, and wonderfully easy to use for recipes like this.

This rajma masala recipe was definitely developed with the Instant Pot (or similar pressure cooker) in mind, but it's still easily adapted to a variety of other methods.  In the section below, I'll explain a few little details relevant to the various methods below.  It's also worth taking a peek at the notes on using dried vs. canned kidney beans, which are covered in the section after the next photo.

Instant Pot (Electric Pressure Cooker)

Definitely the easiest method, this is a wonderfully accessible way of cooking beans. Add in a food processor or blender for the prep and this becomes a genuinely weeknight-friendly meal.

There's not a lot too this method - if you follow the recipe card, you should find the whole process pretty straightforward.  I will caution you to pay attention during the saute steps, as you don't have any control over the temperature at this stage.  Don't burn your spices, my friends.

As always with pressure cooker recipes, be sure to budget time for the cooker to pressurize and depressurize.  Because we're working with dry, un-soaked beans, actual cook time is long (45 minutes), which means you'll need even longer to account for the beginning and the end.  If you want to speed the process up, you can pre-soak the beans overnight.  For more on this, check out the section on Dried vs. Canned Beans below the next image.

Stovetop Method

The stove-top method isn't quite as easy as the Instant Pot method, but it's still pretty darned easy - doubly so if you've got canned kidney beans, or if you're planning to cook your own beans separately.

Once again, the details of this method are laid out in the recipe card below, so I'll use this space to mention a couple of pointers.  First, this method gives you more control over the temperature that you saute and simmer at, which can be nice.  Second (and most importantly) ONLY use the stove-top method if you're using beans that are already fully cooked.  Dried beans, regardless of whether or not they've been soaked, will not cook on the stove-top in the time I've provided.

Rajma masala - Punjabi kidney bean curry

Dried vs Canned Beans

I use dry beans (here, and in general) because they're cheap, easy to store, and very quick to prepare with my Instant Pot.  If you don't have an electric pressure cooker and you don't have time to use dried beans, you can easily swap canned kidney beans into this recipe.

If you do want to swap in canned kidney beans, you'll need about 3 cups of rinsed, canned (and pre-cooked) beans.  It's easiest to use the stove-top cooking method if you're going to use canned beans (see the recipe card itself for more details).

There's a lot of conflicting information about soaking dried beans before using them in a pressure cooker.  Many recipes will tell you that soaking beans in water for 8-12 hours causes beans split less, or that they're less likely to make you gassy.  I'm not really convinced.  I don't bother pre-soaking my beans, but if you want to, you can.  If you do, make sure to discard the soaking water and thoroughly rinse the beans.  Soaked beans cook faster, so you'll also need to reduce the pressure cooking time from 45 minutes to about 15 minutes.   Allow the pressure to release naturally, then check the beans to see if they're sufficiently soft.  Soaked bean cooking time can vary a bit depending on the age of the beans and/or how long they soaked, so you may find you need to adjust a bit.

You can use dark or light kidney beans interchangeably here.  If you want to switch things up a bit, you can also use white kidney beans (aka cannellini).  White kidney beans have a milder, somewhat sweeter taste.  You might find that they disappear a bit against the bold flavours used in rajma masala, but they might also be more agreeable to any diners who are a little on-the-fence about kidney beans.

One final note about dried kidney beans: do NOT take shortcuts when it comes to cooking them!  Raw and under-cooked kidney beans are quite toxic thanks to a chemical compound called phytohemagglutinin.  This compound is broken down entirely after ten or more minutes at or above 100°C, rendering properly cooked beans perfectly safe.  Pressure cooking and boiling both achieve this, but slow cooking does not. In fact, slow cooking at around 80°C actually increases the potency of phytohemagglutinin!  NEVER use a slow cooker to cook raw dried beans unless they have first been boiled for 10 or more minutes.  Canned kidney beans are always pre-cooked, so there's no need to worry about the temperature they're re-cooked at.

Rajma masala - Punjabi kidney bean curry

Fine Tuning the Flavours

Fine tuning a nearly-finished dish is an all-too-often overlooked aspect of good cooking, and it's one that's especially important in South Asian cooking.  Salt, sugar, herbs, fats (e.g. cream and butter), spices, and acidifying agents (e.g. lemon) can all transform a dish like rajma masala.

Every home cook is different, and we've all got our own little blind spots, but I suspect that missing salt is probably one of the biggest culprits when it comes to underwhelming homemade curry.  We've been taught to fear salt, but it's actually pretty tough to over-salt when you're cooking at home.  The average diner finds that a dish tastes properly salted (i.e. 'to taste') when the salt content of the finished dish is somewhere between 0.5% and 1% by weight.  This means that a recipe with a finished weight of 1 kg (2.2 lbs) should contain between 5-10 grams of salt in order to taste properly seasoned.  To give you an idea of what this looks like, 1 teaspoon of salt weighs about 7 grams.

Now, some salt does naturally occur in foods, and many processed foods contain a LOT of it.  I use canned tomatoes to make my rajma masala, and while these have very little salt added, you might find that some brands have quite a bit more.  This, plus personal preferences, is why we say 'salt to taste' in a recipe, rather than 'add 1 tsp salt.'  But it's important to remember that 1 tsp of salt really does look like a lot to most of us.  Dusting a few shakes from a salt shaker over the pot will add maybe 1 gram of salt to your recipe.  That's a fair bit for an individual serving, but it's not going to do much to a big pot of curry.

So what about other flavours? Adjusting to taste is a complicated subject, and if you want to learn more about it I would recommend practice and the phenomenal book Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat. For this recipe, I would start with the cream (or butter) to add richness and a nice mouthfeel.  Then adjust the salt (more fat generally required more salt to taste right, hence the order).  After this, add the garam masala for an extra kick of warm spice flavour, then finish it off with herbs.  Don't skimp on the herbs either - I like cilantro, but if you don't, dried methi (fenugreek) is a delightful alternative.  If you don't have either of those, scallions or parsley are nice too.  If you're like me and you really like dairy creaminess with your curry, consider serving your rajma masala with yogurt or a yogurt-based side like cucumber raita.

Finally, remember that you're going to serve this with plain rice, so you want the flavour of the rajma masala to have a little extra oomph to make everything taste great together.

Rajma masala - Punjabi kidney bean curry, served here with rice (rajma chawal)
Note: Nutritional Information is given for a single serving (1/8 portion of the total recipe), including the optional cream. Note that this information does NOT included rice. Adding a cup of cooked white rice to a single serving will contribute approximately 200 additional calories.
Nutrition Facts
Rajma Masala (aka Rajma Chaval) - South Asian Kidney Bean Curry
Amount Per Serving
Calories 182 Calories from Fat 45
% Daily Value*
Fat 5g8%
Saturated Fat 2g13%
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 1g
Cholesterol 8mg3%
Sodium 484mg21%
Potassium 689mg20%
Carbohydrates 28g9%
Fiber 7g29%
Sugar 4g4%
Protein 9g18%
Vitamin A 758IU15%
Vitamin C 12mg15%
Calcium 73mg7%
Iron 4mg22%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutritional Summary

GOOD NEWS:

Rajma masala is extremely healthy! Lots of protein and fiber, good nutrient density. Rajma itself is pretty low in calories, but do note that adding rice will obviously add calories.

BAD NEWS:

It can be a little easy to let some of the add-ons and adjustments get a little extreme.  Adding a small amount of cream (as written) has a pretty small impact on the nutritional profile, but attempts to achieve restaurant-style levels of creaminess necessitate adding a lot of cream (and most likely salt to boot).  Note also that a high ratio of rice to rajma will contribute a lot of extra calories.

TRIM IT DOWN:

Tip one: eat more rajma and less rice.
Tip two: don't go too heavy on the added cream and salt.

Ingredient & Pantry Pages

No ingredient or pantry pages have been written yet for any of the components of this recipe.  Like to see one?  Let me know in the comments below or by email.

Categories

Note: the recipe can be finished with (optional) cream and/or butter, but vegan/dairy-free substitutes are noted and can be substituted easily.
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5 from 4 votes

Rajma Masala (aka Rajma Chaval) - South Asian Kidney Bean Curry

This classic Punjabi/North Indian comfort food is all about big flavours and simple ingredients. Most recipes require a fair bit of waiting, but this version simplifies things into a weeknight-friendly electric-pressure cooker variation with only a handful of steps. For an even easier (and creamier!) curry, you can do all the chopping/mincing with a blender.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
depressurizing time20 minutes
Total Time1 hour 20 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Asian, Indian
Keyword: kidney bean curry, punjabi kidney beans, rajma chawal
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 182kcal

Equipment

  • Electric Pressure Cooker (e.g. Instant Pot)
  • Blender or food processor (optional, but ideal for quick prep - see note)

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups kidney beans
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 large white onion
  • 2 tbsp ginger (~2 inches)
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1-2 green chilies (see note)
  • 2 cups diced tomatoes fresh or canned
  • 2 tsp vegetable oil

Spices

  • 2 tsp kashmiri chili powder or paprika (see note)
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1.5 tsp coriander
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (optional)
  • 1 clove

To Finish

  • 1 tsp garam masala or to taste
  • 1/4 cup cream (optional - see note)
  • salt to taste
  • cilantro (or dried methi - optional)
  • cooked basmati rice

Instructions

Prep Steps (Both Methods)

  • Grind any whole spices. Mix all of the spices except the garam masala and set them aside.
  • Blend (or very finely chop) the onion, garlic, ginger, and chilies. Scrape the mixture out and set it aside. Don't bother cleaning up your blender, as you'll use it for the tomatoes next.
  • Blend/puree the tomatoes with their juices. Set aside.
    (If you're not using a blender or food processor, finely chop the tomatoes, or use crushed tomatoes or passata).

Electric Pressure Cooker (IP) Method

  • Add vegetable oil to the electric pressure cooker. Set to sauté, and allow the oil to heat up. Add the salt and spices (minus garam masala) and sauté for 30 seconds.
  • Add the onion mixture from the first prep step and sauté for an additional 3-4 minutes, stirring regularly.
  • Add the tomatoes to the pot and sauté for an additional 3 more minutes.
  • Add the water and beans. Stir the mixture and seal the pressure cooker, then cook at high pressure for 45 minutes. Allow the pressure cooker to release naturally.
  • Finish with garam masala, salt to taste, and cream (if desired). Garnish with fresh cilantro or dried methi. Serve with basmati rice.

Stovetop Method

  • Precook the dry beans using your preferred method, or substitute 3 cups of rinsed, pre-cooked (e.g. canned) kidney beans.
  • Add vegetable oil to a large pot on the stovetop. Set heat to medium, and allow the oil to heat up. Add the salt and spices (minus the garam masala) and sauté for 30 seconds.
  • Add the onion mixture from the first prep step and sauté for an additional 3-4 minutes, stirring regularly.
  • Add the tomatoes to the pot and sauté for an additional 5-6 minutes, stirring regularly.
  • Add the cooked beans along with approximately 1 cup of the water. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes, or until the flavours have blended and the beans are very tender.
  • (Optional) Add more of the water to the rajma masala if you want it a little thinner/soupier. Add a few tablespoons at a time until you're satisfied with the consistency.
  • Finish with garam masala, salt to taste, and cream (if desired). Garnish with fresh cilantro or dried methi. Serve with basmati rice.

Notes

Equipment Note - Both the blender (or food processor) and the electric pressure cooker are optional, but they make rajma masala MUCH simpler to make.  The blender in particular eliminates a ton of chopping and gives you a nice, smooth curry.  If you don't have an electric pressure cooker, you can still make this a simple and speedy meal by using canned or pre-cooked kidney beans.
Green Chilies - I use small and relatively mild green chilies to make rajma masala.  You can also use serrano chilies or jalapeños, though they'll generally be a bit hotter.  If you're spice-averse, you can even use about 1/4 of a green bell pepper.
Kashmiri Chili Powder - If you don't have kashmiri chili powder, you can use good paprika (sweet or hot, per your personal tastes).  You can add a little cayenne pepper too if you want to amp up the spice level.
Cream - You don't have to add cream to your rajma, but it does add richness and depth of flavour.  Restaurant-style rajma will almost always have cream added - often quite a lot more than called for here.  If you want to keep the recipe entirely plant-based, consider substituting coconut cream.  It will impart a slight coconut flavour to the recipe, but this works quite nicely with the beans and spices.
Serving Size - It's tough to generalize serving sizes for curries like this, as it depends on how much rice (and/or naan, roti, etc.) you serve it with.  This quantity easily serves eight, but could be stretched out to serve many more with sides and other curries.  The recipe halves fairly easily, but also makes excellent leftovers, so don't be afraid to make a bit more than you need.

Nutrition

Calories: 182kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 484mg | Potassium: 689mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 758IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 73mg | Iron: 4mg

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    wow i never knew that raw kidney beans are poisonous. Now i make sure they are fully cooked! This Rajma Masala curry hits all the right spots. I will have to make another pot of this. Cuz i want it on noodles, rice and even as a dip! Awesome recipe Sean!

  2. 5 stars
    I’d never heard of using kidney beans for a curry, though my husband loves chickpea curries. Great recipe!

  3. Count me in for the Instant Pot version. We also eat a lot more beans due to this magical appliance. I love kidney beans but have never used them in a curry. This recipe is going onto the ‘must make’ list.

  4. 5 stars
    I’ve never used kidney beans before in curry but this was absolutely delicious, comforting and also budget friendly!

  5. 5 stars
    Love a hearty and aromatic curry! Plus, I need more beans in my system! I must try to make my beans in a pressure cooker like you, although I must confess I’m a bit scared of that pot! Lovely well documented post once more Sean!

  6. Very nice and organized recipe. I would like to see cooking videos for all your recipes. I saw that you have a YouTube channel, but it has been inactive for more than two years.

    1. Author

      Thanks Claire! I’m hoping to get video rolling soon – it’s a big endeavour! Haha. But I’m glad to know the interest is out there. Cheers!

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