Cooking Rajma Chawal

Healthy Vegetarian Cooking !!!

– Easy to cook, great in taste –

It’s so easy and quick to cook some nutritious vegetarian recipe. And, they taste so great and its light on the stomach too. So friends, today I will share with you a delicious recipe of Rajma Chawal (Indian dish of kidney beans with rice) that I had cooked the previous day for my family.

Kidney beans are rich in soluble fibre, so these are good in controlling cholesterol. They are a good source of protein, foliate, manganese and zinc. Kidney beana are also a good source of iron and potassium, thiamine, riboflavin, phosphorus and copper. The high soluble fibre in kidney beans helps to eliminate cholesterol from the body and helps to cleanse the digestive tract.

So I soaked around 350gm of kidney beans in water for overnight for around 10 hour. In the morning the beans were double the size and had turned soft but not chewable. Next step is to put the beans in a pressure pan with some salt and 6 cups (750 ml) of water for around 12 to 15 minutes on medium to low flame.

COOKING TIME (30 minutes)
INGREDIENTS (serves 4 portions)
· Rajma cooked in the pressure pan after overnight soaking
· 2 Medium sized onions (finely chopped)
· 8 Medium sized tomatoes (finely chopped)
· 5-6 big cloves of garlic (crushed or grinded)
· ½ teaspoon of red chilli powder (optional, only if you want it slightly hot)
· 2 tablespoon of Milk cream/ whole yoghurt
· Salt to taste
· 2 pinches of turmeric powder (if available)
· 2 tablespoon of peanut oil (or any other oil that you regularly use)
· Coriander leaves for garnishing

METHOD
1. Put oil in a deep pan and heat it, add onions and sauté them on a medium flame until they become golden brown in colour.
2. Add garlic and mix it well for a minute, lower the flame while mixing.
3. Add tomatoes and mix it well for 2 minutes on high flame and then let it cook for next 10 minutes on low flame until they are completely soft and mashed.
4. Add the boiled rajma along with the remaining water and stir well on high flame for 2 minutes. Add salt and turmeric powder and mix well.
5. Lower the flame and let it simmer for next 10 to 15 minutes to allow the flavours to mingle well.
6. Put a little milk cream to make the texture smooth and creamy and garnish it with coriander leaves.



And serve hot with some rice (you can drain the starchy water from the rice for a healthier option) and salad and some green vegetables!!



Nutrition values of Kidney Beans
Serving Size 1 cup (185 g)
Calories: 241
Protein: 15.1 g
Total fat: 0.8 g
Saturated Fat 0.2g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.1g
Carbohydrate: 45 g
Fibre: 9.8 g
Calcium: 98 mg
Iron: 2.2 mg
Sodium: 442 mg
Potassium: 801 mg
Cholesterol: 0

Can you believe that such tiny beans from nature are power packs of nutrition!? So do try cooking it yourself!!

I will be back with some more interesting recipes for you guys!! Take care till then!