Rajma recipe: 5 ways to cook rajma beans at home

Every rajma dish on this page stands on the same two rules. First, the soak: 8 to 12 hours, or overnight, fully submerged, with the quick-soak of about an hour on how to soak rajma for short-notice cooking. Second, the softness: whatever the dish, the beans must crush easily between two fingers before they meet the masala, the rice or the salad bowl, and the full cooker method is on how to cook rajma. The Dietary Guidelines for Indians note that the enzyme inhibitors in pulses, which would otherwise block digestion, are destroyed by boiling or pressure cooking, so the softness rule is not only about texture.

Rajma curry (dhaba style)

Soaked rajma goes into the pressure cooker with 3 cups of fresh water and a teaspoon of salt per cup of beans, brought to the first whistle on high and held on low for 20 minutes, while onions brown in ghee with cumin and a tomato masala with ginger-garlic paste, turmeric and coriander powder cooks until the ghee separates. The beans and their water join the masala for a 15 to 18 minute simmer, a ghee-chilli tadka and kasuri methi finish the pot, and the curry is on the table about 1 hour 25 minutes after the soak; a bowl built on 50 g of dry rajma carries 224 kcal, 10.2 g protein and 9.1 g fibre. The full dhaba order of work, quick-soak included, is the rajma curry recipe.

Rajma chawal

The classic plate: the curry above ladled over steamed basmati rice, with sliced raw onion, a lemon wedge and a green chilli on the side. Build it the rajma chawal way, 50 g of dry rajma with 75 g of raw rice, following the rajma chawal recipe for the full plate.

Rajma khichdi

The one-pot version: soaked rajma is pressure-cooked soft first with 3 cups of fresh water, to the first whistle on high, held on low for 20 minutes, and 1 1/2 cups of rinsed basmati then joins the pot with 3 cups of hot water for a short second cook and about 10 minutes of natural release, about 1 hour 10 minutes in all. A bowl built on 50 g of dry rajma and 75 g of raw rice carries 488 kcal, 16.0 g protein and 10.6 g fibre. The two-stage pot, tempering included, is the rajma khichdi recipe.

Rajma salad

Boiled, cooled rajma tossed with chopped cucumber, onion and tomato, a squeeze of lemon and salt and chaat masala to taste; the beans bring the fibre and the crunch comes from the vegetables. There is no separate recipe page: cook the beans by the rules above and the salad is five minutes of assembly.

Rajma tikki

Mash boiled rajma with an equal part of boiled potato, season with salt, cumin and chopped coriander, shape into flat rounds and shallow-fry on a medium flame until browned on both sides. Serve with mint chutney; here too the only recipe is the bean cook above.

A quick weeknight points to the rajma khichdi: one pot, two short cooks, about 1 hour 10 minutes. A slow weekend points to the rajma curry, about 1 hour 25 minutes, stretched into rajma chawal by a pot of rice. A light meal is the salad; a child's bowl is the khichdi with a portion mashed smooth, as its recipe page suggests. Whatever the dish, the same portion rule holds from the is rajma good for diabetes page: measured rajma in place of some rice, not piled on top of a full plate.

Cooked rajma curry and rajma khichdi both hold up to two days in the fridge; the khichdi sets firm as it cools, so loosen it with a little water when you reheat. Dry beans keep for months in an airtight jar, and soaked beans belong in the fridge, used soon. The full rules for every form are on how to store rajma, and everything else about the bean, its types and its nutrition numbers, starts at the rajma beans hub.

Can rajma be cooked without soaking?

It can, but every recipe on this page is timed for soaked beans. Skip the soak and the pot needs extra time, and the middles of the beans can stay hard, so keep cooking until every bean crushes easily between two fingers. Short of time, the quick-soak described on how to soak rajma brings the wait down to about an hour.

Why rajma not getting soft?

Usually the soak: the recipes here assume 8 to 12 hours, and a shorter soak leaves the centres hard. An old batch may be slow to soften however long it cooks, and acidic ingredients in the cooker, like tomato, can hold the beans firm. Keep cooking on low until the two-finger test passes; the fixes are on how to cook rajma.

Which rajma is best?

For cooking, the best rajma is a fresh pack you cook all the way through; no one variety wins for everyone. COWBERRY's organic Kashmiri red kidney beans are small and glossy, turn creamy inside while holding their shape, and are hand-picked, unpolished and harvested at full maturity.

What is the easiest rajma recipe?

The rajma khichdi is the most hands-off: two short pressure cooks in one pot and about 1 hour 10 minutes after the soak. The rajma curry takes about 1 hour 25 minutes and asks for more steps at the stove, but the masala is the same order of work every time, so it is easy to repeat.

How long does rajma take to cook?

After the 8 to 12 hour soak, the beans themselves cook with a first whistle on high and then 20 minutes on low, and the natural pressure drop finishes them. A rajma curry is on the table about 1 hour 25 minutes after the soak, and a rajma khichdi about 1 hour 10 minutes.

What is rajma?

The red kidney bean, rajma, is the dried seed of the common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris. Cooked soft, it becomes the spiced curry that tops steamed rice in rajma chawal. The raw numbers per 100 g are near 300 kcal, with protein at 19.9 g and fibre at 16.6 g (IFCT 2017).