Rajma Recipe

This Rajma recipe is a lightly spiced, creamy and a delicious Punjabi curry made with kidney beans, onions, tomatoes and spices. This is my mom’s recipe of making this famous and truly restaurant style Punjabi Rajma Masala.

Rajma is the Hindi word for kidney beans. In fact both the beans as well as this curried dish is called as Rajma. Another name for this dish is Rajma Masala – where Rajma refers to the beans and Masala means a spiced gravy.

Watch Rajma Masala Video

Rajma Recipe | Rajma Masala

Rajma masala is a weekend affair at home and a Sunday lunch. This particular rajma recipe made restaurant style goes very well with both steamed rice as well as naan. And when you have rajma and rice, do you need anything else?

In my home, there are no side dishes made on the day when rajma is cooked. Just the melt in the mouth rajma beans in a creamy curry with steamed rice and you have a comforting meal.

Table of Contents

1. Why this recipe works
2. How to make Rajma Masala (Stepwise Photos)
3. Expert Tips
4. FAQs
5. Recipe Card

Why this recipe works

This rajma recipe follows the traditional and the most common method of making rajma curry. So there are no chances of anything going wrong, if you follow the recipe correctly.

In the recipe, the kidney beans are cooked first which are later added to a sautéed base of spices, onions and tomatoes. This flavorful base is cooked further to a curry or gravy consistency by adding some water and then finished off with some cream.

Adding cream makes for a truly restaurant-style rajma thats tastes so good and which you can serve with Indian flat breads like naan or paratha or roti.

My family loves rajma masala with steamed basmati rice. But even Indian flat breads and jeera rice accompany rajma masala very well.

In Punjabi homes, they often make rajma chawal on weekends where the flavorful rajma curry is served with steamed rice. The word ‘chawal’ stands for rice in Hindi.

Step-by-Step Guide

How to make Rajma Masala

My detailed step-by-step process will help you in making the best rajma recipe ever. I have cooked the beans in a pressure cooker.

These can be easily cooked in a pan or an Instant pot. In the recipe card below, I have listed the steps of cooking the beans in a pan and Instant pot.

Soaking & cooking rajma

1. Rinse for a couple of times and then soak 1 cup rajma (kidney beans) in enough water overnight or for 8 to 9 hours.

2. Next day discard the soaked water. Drain and rinse the soaked beans for a few times in running water.

3. Again drain all the water and add the rinsed kidney beans in a 3 litre pressure cooker.

4. Add 3.5 to 4 cups of water and stir. Pressure cook the rajma for 18 to 20 whistles or for about 15 to 20 minutes. Time of cooking will vary depending on the quality and age of rajma.

5. When the kidney beans are cooking, you can chop 1 large onion (¾ to 1 cup finely chopped onion), 2 large tomatoes (1 cup finely chopped tomatoes) and make the crushed ginger+garlic+green chili paste.

You need to crush or grind 1 inch ginger, 5 to 6 small garlic cloves or 3 to 4 medium garlic cloves & 1 to 2 green chilies to a paste in a mortar-pestle or a small grinder.

6. When the pressure settles down on its own in the cooker, open the lid. Check if the rajma is cooked or not by eating or pressing a bean with your fingers. The cooked beans should not have a bite to them.

The rajma beans should be completely cooked. If they are not cooked completely, then pressure cook again adding some water if required for some minutes.