Here jarosh. Sorry a little late. Got a little tipsy last night and didn't feel like cooking. Prep time on the Rajma curry/masala is about an hour. It does make a very large batch though.
First, soak 1 1/2 cups of dried beans overnight then pressure-cook them for about thirty minutes till they become cracked and mushy but still whole. Retain the cooking liquid because that is where your thickener is.
Dried:
Soaked for 24 hours:
Then gather all the ingredients.
Three tomatoes
Two green chilis
One onion
Cooked beans
Bean cooking liquid
2 TB of dried fenugreek/methi
2 tsp of dried coriander
1 tsp of red chili powder
1 teaspoon of jeera/cumin seed
Dash of Hing
1/4 tsp of turmeric
large pat of butter
Heaping spoonful of Ginger/Garlic paste (about 6 cloves of garlic and an inch of ginger mashed)
1 cinnamon stick
1 piece of Mace
6 green cardamon pods
6 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
Bunch of fresh coriander/cilantro
Put the mace, cinnamon stick, cardamon, cloves, bay leaves into a spice grinder:
Grind to a fine powder and reserve:
Put a pan on the stove at medium-high and add two tablespoons of oil:
Add the cumin seed and hing and sautee till the seeds crack (about a minute):
Add the finely chopped onions and a tsp of salt and sweat them out. You don't want them to brown, just turn clear and shrink (about five minutes):
While sweating the onions chop two large tomatoes and put them in a blender:
Blend till the skins have disappeared and reserve:
With the onions ready, add the turmeric (optional but I always add it for its health benefits):
Then quickly add the ginger/garlic paste and sautee for about thirty seconds just to release the flavors:
Then add the bean liquid (about two cups worth) and bring to a vigorous boil:
Now it is time to add the second layer of spices. First, add your reserved spices that were ground earlier (the mace, cardamon, cinnamon, bay, cloves):
Then add the coriander:
Now add the pureed tomatoes and the two green chilis that have been chopped finely:
While the spices boil away and cook, soak some fresh cilantro (stems and all). If it is perky you don't need to soak:
Your spice mixture should be boiling vigorously now and it will need to be reduced to half...about fifteen minutes. There is enough water in it that it only needs to be stirred about once a minute. You are looking for the froth to disappear, the oil to bubble naturally out of the tomatoes and the sound to change as it gets rid of all the excess water:
In the meantime, finely chop your cilantro leaving a few nice whole leaves (reserve):
Sauce has reduced in half and the tomatoes and spices are fully cooked:
Add the kidney beans, a spoonful of chili powder (to taste), a pat of butter, and the dried fenugreek:
Bring to a boil, then reduce to low and cover. We are going to slowly simmer it for fifteen minutes...stirring two to three time in the duration:
After the fifteen minutes, everything should be nicely melded. It will have further thickened as more starch leeches out of the beans. Check to see if more salt is needed. Add the chopped cilantro and cook for about one minute more. This is just the finisher like parsley in italian recipes:
Now, take a small tomato and cut it up for garnish:
This is the finished Rajma Curry that will be plated family-style:
Serving with garnish:
Dishes!!
