Rajma & Potato Curry(Thatampairu Urulai Kulambu)

Rajma & Potato Curry

Rajma & Potato Curry(Thatampairu Urulai Kulambu)

Rajma is extremely popular party dish,specially in north India. Rajma tastes best when served  with plain boiled rice,Salad and pickle.
Kidney beans(Rajma) are a very good source of Protien,Folate,Zinc,Maganese,Iron,thiamin and riboflavin.

My recipe is not the traditional recipe,but this is how my mom used to prepare it.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp Mustard seeds
• 2 tsps Cumin seeds
• 4-6 cloves
• 1 three inch stick of cinnamon or 2 tsps cinnamon powder
• 1 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste
• 2 tsps green chilly paste (increase if you would like it spicy)
• 3 tsps turmeric powder (haldi)
• 3 tsps red chilli powder
• 3 tsps coriander powder (dhania)
• 2 tsps cumin powder (jeera)
• 2 tsps garam masala powder (optional) *For Garam Masala powder preparation check footnote.
• One large tin of Rajma/ Red kidney beans or two small tins (drain the water out) or 400gms rajma/kidney beans (soak the previous night in water if you plan on cooking for dinner tonight)
• 1 medium sized onion finely chopped
• 2 small potatoes- washed, peeled and diced
• 3 tbsps tomato puree/paste or fresh tomato (2 no.s) cut into pieces
• 2/3 tbsp cooking oil
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

Take a non stick sauce pan pour the required cooking oil.

Once heated, add the mustard seeds wait till it starts spluttering, immediately add cumin seeds wait for a second then add finely chopped onion.

Then add garlic ginger & chilli paste & let it cook till onion turns golden brown.

Then add diced potatoes. Fry for about 4 minutes on low flame. Stir in between.

Then add tomato puree/paste/fresh tomatoes. Mix it well, then add Turmeric (Haldi),Red chilli powder, salt, coriander (dhania) powder, cumin seeds (jeera), garam masala and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.

Next add rajma
. (If you are using tinned rajma/red kidney beans, then just add the tinned beans with water OR If you are using soaked red kidney beans/rajma, then first remove most of the water , leaving just a little to make the gravy dry but if you intend on eating this with rice you may want to keep most of the water in order to get a runny gravy).

Allow this to cook at low flame for 20-30 minutes. Keep checking and stirring in between.

Serve with chapati/rice or you can have just a bowl of this on its own.

Hope you enjoy cooking this and serving this dish as much as I do. A plain and simple Rajma and Potato curry that can be served with chapati, rice or on its own.



*Garam Masala: a mix of powdered hot spices namely (2 ) green cardamoms, (2) cloves, (4) black cardamoms, (2) bay leaves, (12) peppercorns, 2 inch cinnamon stick.Fry these on slow fire for about 30 seconds. Grind this into a fine powder using a grinder/ mortar pestle or even a coffee grinder. Store in a clean and dry container Garam Masala.