Rajma Chawal

Hello boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! If truth be told, I am more than a little excited about today's dish! To say that it is my favourite is an understatement. I mean, we're talking about a dish that is embedded so deeply in my life, it's practically a part of who I am! I remember visiting my Nanima (maternal grandmother) in Delhi when I was little, every year when schools broke for summer and occasionally Diwali vacations. I had a special plate that only I would eat out of. Well, there was a set, but it wasn't for everyday use but me being me (and Nanima being Nanima), I always got my plate! (Although my younger sister and my cousins often piggybacked onto my demands and got one from the same set). A white plate with red roses around the circumference, linked with green stems and a big serving of arguably the best rajma chawal in the world, in the middle. Years have past, and Nanima isn't around anymore, but I still get my rajma chawal, cooked using the same recipe, in the same plate, whenever I'm in Delhi.

Thankfully, the magic of Nanima's rajma chawal still lingers in the family's cooking and surprisingly, in my own. A few years ago, I made a trip to Delhi sans my folks to meet Nanima and I was welcomed, not surprisingly, with my favourite rajma chawal. The next day, I went to visit my aunt who also welcomed me with, yes, rajma chawal. To make matters better (yes, better!), the very next day when I went to visit another aunt, I was welcomed once again, with rajma chawal! After 3 consecutive days of rajma chawal, I realized that I had found the one thing that I would never get tired of eating. This was true then and it is true now. And after months of avoiding learning to cook it, for fear that it would never taste as good, I finally gave in and asked my mum for the recipe and was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn't suck at making it. I was in fact, pretty good and having made it a fair few times over the past several months, I have finally deemed myself worthy of sharing it with you.

So crack those knuckles, loosen those limbs, and stretch those muscles, for we are about to dive headfirst into the recipe for the greatest Punjabi dish ever. Rajma chawal!

For the Rajma, you will need the following:

Rajma (kidney beans)	250 gms
Onion	1 large
Tomatoes	2 large
Ginger garlic paste	2 tsp
Dhaniya (coriander) powder	2 tsp
Jeera (cumin) powder	1 tsp
Red chilli powder	2-3 tsp
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Soak the rajma in water overnight (or for an hour in warm water if you've forgotten).
2. Grate the onion.
3. Pureé the tomatoes. (Or just use tomato pureé.)

Method:

1. Discard the floaty rajma.
2. Drain the water from the rajma.
3. Grab a pressure cooker.
4. Bounce the rajma in.
5. Add water until the rajma is submerged under 3 fingers of the liquid.
6. Pinch in some salt.
7. Lock the pressure cooker.
8. Turn the gas on. 
9. Crank it up to high.
10. Bung the cooker on.
11. Daydream.
12. Break out of your reverie by the cooker whistling.
13. Drop the heat on the cooker burner to low and leave it for 30 minutes. (Ignore all the hissing and spitting.)
14. Turn the burner off.
15. Wait for the steam to escape the cooker. (Don't open it!)
16. Put on another burner.
17. Bung a saucepan/kadhai on.
18. Splash in some oil.
19. Count to 20.
20. Arm yourself with the lid to the kadhai.
21. Slide in the onions.
22. Slap the lid on to prevent the sputtering oil from making your cook-top all oily!
23. Cook the onions until they get light brown.
24. Add in the ginger garlic paste.
25. Cook until the onions get really brown. (Not unlike my complexion after a football game on a summer afternoon in India.)
26. Sprinkle in the coriander powder, cumin powder and red chilli powder.
27. Mix.
28. Add in a dash of water.
29. Mix until the powders blend in with the onion.
30. Pour in the pureed tomatoes.
31. Cook until the oil separates from the tomatoes indicating the tomatoes are cooked.
32. Bring the heat down to low.
33. Shift attention to the pressure cooker.
34. Lift the weight to let out any lingering steam
35. Open the cooker. (The rajma should be soft and bursty to the touch.)
36. Fish out the rajma and add them into the tomato-onion base. (Don't pour the water away!)
37. Cook for a minute or two.
38. Pour in the rajma-water from the cooker into the kadhai.
39. Mix well.
40. Add salt to taste.
41. Simmer for a few minutes adjusting the consistency as desired.
42. Turn gas off.
43. Serve with (jeera) rice.
44. Stuff face.
45. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: Leftover rajma is best enjoyed with a spicy parantha.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy.