Rajmah

This week I was looking for something vegan again to try in the slow cooker. I naturally thought of Indian cuisine. After searching “slow cooker Indian recipe”, I found a recipe for a Punjabi dish of curried kidney beans, called rajmah, on Chicago’s ABC 7’s site about The Indian Slow Cooker.

Rajmah is a Punjabi comfort food and not usually something that you would find at a restaurant.  This sense of it not being refined enough to serve at a restaurant made the dish intriguing.  Added to that is the interesting the story of Anupy Singla, the Indian Slow Cooker, which compelled me to cook this Punjabi entrée. Indian-born and raised in the Philadelphia area, Singla eventually worked her way as a reporter in Chicago – frequently as a correspondent for Chicago-based news on CNN.  To conform with her hectic schedule she would work with her mother to adapt many of her favorite Indian dishes for the slow cooker. This became her favorite way to cook. Singla has her own blog, Indian as Apple Pie.

I went ahead and made the rajmah, though I didn’t have many of the spices in whole form so I tinkered with the seasonings. Surprisingly I had some of the "Easy Garam Masala" made up from a past dish. I linked to the recipe for your convenience. 

Rajmah

Ingredients:

• 3 cups, about 1 bag dried red kidney beans, cleaned and washed thoroughly
• 1 medium yellow or red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 2 – 3 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and chopped or grated
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped or grated
• 4 -6 green Thai, serrano, or cayenne chilies, stems removed, chopped
• 3 whole cloves
• ½ Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp red chili powder
• 2 Tbsp salt
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala from Hundu for "hot mixture" and referring to the intensity and the heat of the spice, garam masala is a blend of ground spices common in North Indian and other South Asian cuisines.
• 9 cups water
• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Put all the ingredients but the cilantro in slow cooker; cook on high for 11 hours, until the beans break down and become somewhat creamy. (It’s important that it be on high since the toxic compound phytohaemagglutinin is concentrated in red kidney beans and the heat of the high setting breaks down the toxin into non-toxic proteins.) 
2. After cooking, remove and discard the cloves and if the rajmah is not creamy enough, blend about a cup or so of the beans and mix purée thoroughly.
3. Stir in the cilantro. Serve over a bed of basmati rice.

I did a little twist on the rice, by making a few cups of rice and adding the remaining cilantro chopped.  This is a quick flourish that is good for both Indian and Mexican dishes.  I serve my chili over cilantroed rice when I have it.  Also, like any good “red beans and rice” combo, I do like to add some hot sauce before eating.