Rajma

This recipe was given to me by a friend on the net. The dish is very tasty but I liked the way the recipe was presented too. So here, for your perusal is an almost verbatim rendition of the recipe as given by my friend.

Ingredients:

• Rajma
• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Garlic (minced or paste)
• Cooking soda
• Salt
• Turmeric powder (optional)
• Chili powder (optional)
• Jeera powder
• Dhania powder
• Kothmir leaves
• Aamchoor powder
• Garam masala powder
• Lemon juice (optional)

• If you are using tinned rajma then just get the rajma outta tin and wash them thoroughly. Don't have all that sticky stuff that comes with it. If you are soaking rajma then soak overnight and then pressure cook with about 4-5 whistles.
• If you have cooking soda add a bit of it when you pressure cook. Otherwise also no problem.
• Chop onion. Add oil in pan, fry onions, [with haldi] and then add minced garlic. For two cups of uncooked rajma, use two onions, and about 2 teaspoons of minced garlic. [two tsps of garlic paste should do, but use your discretion here cos I dunno how concentrated the garlic is.]
• Saute lightly till the onions are transparent, then add tomatoes, finely chopped, add salt over tomatoes and leave to cook for 2 minutes. Add lotsa tomato juice, the more the better. If you are using tinned 'peeled, diced, tomatoes' then you'll get a lot of juice with it.
• Cook till the tomatoes are all skwooshed. [puchuk-puchuk, shapeless types] then add pre-cooked [or tinned] rajma and mix well.
• Add the necessary masala. Use whatever you feel like but this is what I'd recommend. 1 tsp dhania powder, 1 tsp jeera powder, 1 tsp aamchoor powder, 1 tsp garam masala. Adjust salt according to taste. When adding masalas, add chili powder if you want it really hot.
• Add lots of water and leave on a simmer and let it gradually thicken. If it becomes thick, add more water and again let it cook for a while. The idea is to let the rajma cook in the masala.
• When done [that is, when rajma looks cooked] sprinkle with raw onions and fresh coriander.
• Just before serving, [if you do this in advance it'll become bitter] add about 2-3 tsps of lemon juice [you get bottled version of it] and stir lightly. Serve.

• If you wanna be really innovative and also get something yummmm tasting, try this.
• When you add rajma and then masala, add little water and cook rajma. Keep adding little little water so that rajma gets cooked but there isn't much gravy. then when rajma is half done, remove from burner.
• In a pressure cooker [or rice cooker] add two cups of rice and one cup of this mixture [cooked rajma]. Pressure cook, till rice is done. If you doing this variation then wash rice couple if times before using or else use basmati rice.
• Remove, stir lightly, so that rajma and rice are mixed. Sprinkle fresh coriander and little bit of lemon juice. Serve.