This is my mother-in-law’s simple homemade Punjabi rajma recipe. It has no frills, no special ingredients yet it makes the most comforting bowl of rajma. The kidney beans are pressure cooked and then an onion-tomato masala is added to them and they are cooked again until the masala and the rajma are very well combined with each other.
Like they say a good punjabi rajma should be “rassa hua” meaning the spices, masala, rajma should be intermixed so well with each other and the rajma should melt in mouth and this recipe makes just that kind of rajma. It is like a hug in a bowl!
Why this recipe is special!
Rajma is something I have grown to love in the last 10 years or so. It wasn’t something that was my favorite growing up but now I find it so comforting. My go to Rajma Masala recipe is something we often enjoy with a bowl of rice over the weekend. However, there’s one more version which is extra-comforting and I wanted to share it with you all here.
This is my mother-in-law’s recipe, she makes it in a very different way than me. Isn’t that the beauty of cooking? We can all use the same spices etc. yet the final result can taste so different based just on how the ingredients were added and cooked. I learnt this recipe from her, it’s a simple, homestyle Punjabi recipe and it truly makes the most comforting bowl of rajma you will ever have.
The kidney beans melt in your mouth in this recipe, they are that soft because she pressure cooks them twice! She makes the masala separately for this homestyle Punjabi rajma and then adds it to the pressure cooked rajma and then pressure cooks it again.
Pro trip for busy days from my mother-in-law:
She told me that she sometimes cooks the pureed onion in advance until all the moisture dries out and it turns this light golden brown in color and then freeze it. This saves her time on the day of actually making the rajma. I am yet to try this trick but it sure sounds very handy for busy days!
This rajma has a melt-in-mouth consistency, so don’t expect the kidney beans to be firm to bite in this recipe.
Let’s make homestyle rajma
- First, pressure cook the kidney beans
You should not forget to soak them overnight for this recipe, then drain all the water in which they were soaked, rinse and add to a stovetop pressure cooker with fresh water and salt and pressure cook. While the beans are cooking, make the masala on the side.
- Then cook the onions
I like to use a food processor to chop the onions really fine for this recipe. Then cook the onions until the raw smell goes away completely before adding ginger-garlic paste, homemade fresh ginger-garlic paste is the best.
- The tomatoes and spices go in next
Pureed tomatoes go in next and cook them for 5 to 6 minutes before adding the powdered spices like coriander powder, red chili powder, fennel powder along with some salt.
- Mix in the prepared masala with the cooked beans
By the time your masala is done, the beans are completely cooked as well. They will be super soft at this point. Open the cooker and stir in the prepared masala.
- Pressure cook the 2nd time!
Make sure to mix the masala well with the cooked beans. At this point, I also add some extra water and then pressure cook this again for 10 minutes on medium heat.
- Last step is to let the rajma simmer
Once the pressure comes off, stir and let the rajma simmer for 15 minutes on low. You can adjust the consistency of rajma at this point. Add the garam masala towards the end. And now you can serve this hot with rice or warm homemade rotis.
Can you make this in an Instant Pot?
So this might be just me, the one who grew up eating the best rajma around Delhi but in my humble opinion, rajma never gets to that melt in mouth consistency in the Instant Pot. However, if you are not so picky about the super soft rajma consistency, then yes you can make this in the Instant Pot.
Pressure cook on bean/chili mode for 30 to 35 minutes and let the pressure release naturally. For the second time, pressure cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Let it simmer on sauté for 10 to 15 minutes for the final step.
And what about stovetop?
I would not recommend. Cooking raw kidney beans on stove-top will take a very long time. For this recipe, we want the beans to be super soft, and melt-in-mouth and achieving that consistency will take hours. Also, this style rajma is just better in the pressure cooker.
Storing in the fridge
This will last in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, the flavors are actually better the next day. You can also make this rajma and freeze it. Kidney beans freeze well so this freeze well for 2 to 3 months. Make sure to bring it to room temperature first and then freeze in freezer safe containers.
Homestyle Punjabi Rajma
Ingredients
- 1 & ½ cups rajma/dry kidney beans, 300 grams
- 4-5 cups water, divided, as needed
- 1 & ½ teaspoon salt, divided
- 1 & ½ tablespoon oil, 22 ml , I used avocado oil
- 1 large red onion, 200 grams , very finely chopped using a food processor or pureed
- 1 & ½ teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
- 2 medium tomatoes, 215 grams
- 1 & ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- ¼ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, or use regular chili powder to make it spicy
- ¼ teaspoon fennel powder
- ⅛-¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala
Instructions
- Rinse and soak 1&½ cups kidney beans (rajma) overnight in 4 to 5 cups of water. In the morning, drain the water in which the rajma was soaked and rinse the beans.Add the rinsed and drained beans to a pressure cooker. Add 3 & ½ cups of fresh water along with 1 teaspoon salt. Close the lid and pressure cook in high heat for 1 to 2 whistles. Once it gets 1-2 whistles, lower the heat to medium-low and let it cook for 30 mins.
- Work on the masala while the kidney beans are cooking. To a pan on medium heat add 1 & ½ tablespoon oil. Then add 1 large onion (finely grated or pureed).
- Stir often and cook the onions for 7 to 8 minutes until they turn light golden brown in color and have no raw smell. Then add 1&½ ginger-garlic paste and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add 2 medium tomatoes (pureed), and cook the tomatoes for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring often until the tomatoes are soft and done. Then add 1 & ½ teaspoon coriander powder, ½ teaspoon cumin powder, ¼ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, ¼ teaspoon fennel powder, ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder and ¼ teaspoon salt. Stir and cook the spices for 1 to 2 minutes. The masala is now done, you can remove it in a bowl.
- Once the 30 minutes are up, let the pressure from the pressure cooker be released naturally. This happens alongside while you make the masala so by the time the masala is done, the rajma has also pressure cooked and the pressure cooker is ready to be opened. Open the pressure cooker, the kidney beans are soft by now.
- Now add the prepared masala to the pressure cooker. Stir and add ½ to 1 cup more water at this point. Close the lid and pressure cook again on medium heat for a total of 10 minutes. You don't really want a whistle at this point, so don't put the cooker on high heat.
- After 10 minutes, turn off heat and let the pressure release naturally. Now, once the pressure has released, open the cooker, and turn on the heat again on low-medium. Let the rajma simmer on low-medium heat for 15 minutes. Towards the last 5 minutes, add in ¼ teaspoon garam masala.
- Tastes test and adjust salt as needed, I added ¼ teaspoon more salt here. You can also add more water as the rajma is simmering to make it thinner and adjust the consistency as needed. This rajma makes quite thick rajma so keep that in mind. It will also continue to thicken as it cools. After simmering for 15 mins, the rajma is now done. Serve hot with rice!
Video
Notes
- As is often the case with dishes like chole and rajma, they taste even better the next day. So, the leftovers are even better for lunch!
- This Punjabi rajma recipe isn’t spicy, to make it spicier you can add a finely chopped green chili along with the onion. You can also add some hot red chili powder along with the spices.
- The consistency of this rajma is on the thicker side, you can add more water to make it thinner. The rajma thickens more as it cools down.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hello from Texas, Manali. I’m eager to try this recipe. But I’m having to adapt it a little bit.
For one, I’m using 3 cans of kidney beans rather than dry. A Gujarati Indian friend tells me this will be fine.
But here is my question: I’m planning to use canned or bottled tomato puree in the masala, but I’m unclear how much will be close to 2 pureed medium tomatoes. I’m guessing 12 to 14 oz will be close, maybe a bit too much? What do you think?
12 oz will be okay but honestly if you are using canned beans , you will not need to cook them for this long since they are already cooked
I have been making this on repeat for years and it is one of my favorites. This is a warm hug of a meal.
glad you enjoy!
I love love loved this recipe!!! Honestly the best curry I have made. Simple and tasty and above all my kids love it. The end product is creamy and light and smooth. Excellent! (Note : I added some chopped and boiled potatoes to the rajma)
Thank you! 🙂
Hello – curious what the difference between a pressure cooker and instant pot would be? I have both but I always thought the pressure cook feature on the instant pot was exactly the same?
They are same, one is traditional stove-top pressure cooker (in which we count whistles) and other is electric (instant pot). Some beans imo cook better in stove-top pressure cooker like rajma especially when you are cooking it with the masala.
I don’t have fennel powder, what can I use instead ? And can I use tin tomato if I don’t have fresh?
You can skip fennel no problem. Yes you can use tin tomato
Hi! Is there a way to make this without a pressure cooker?
you would cook the kidney beans on stovetop until they are very very soft, will probably take 2 hours to reach that soft consistency on stovetop. Once they are soft, you follow the same steps. Mix the prepared masala with the cooked beans in a large pot and simmer 30 minutes.
I followed this recipe twice – more for the method than the spices. Yesterday was the 2nd time and I made the best rajma of my life! Such a simple effective recipe and Punjabi food wins my vote every time! Thank you for sharing, Manaliji and now I would like a recipe for kofte please!
Kind regards, Rekha
Thanks Rekha, I love this method too and after learning from my mother in law, I have always made punjabi rajma this way! It’s the best!
Which kind of kofte recipe do you want to see?
tried many other rajma recepes. was never satisfied. your instructions are super detailed. specially with the pressure cooking instructions and ingedients including the weight of onions. following your recepe nothing can go wrong. i can have a perfect dish everytime. thankyou manali. dilip
Thanks Dilip, glad you enjoyed!
Hi manali
Thank you so much for this recipe . I have tried so many recipes but nothing worked out.
Your recipe made my husband and daughter happy.
Tons of thanks 🙏 for sharing this recipe.
So glad to hear that! sometimes, simple is the best, isn’t it? 🙂
Thank you so much! Like all your recipes, it made me feel so much more confident to cook Indian food.
Great recipe; had the joy to try it out with fresh spices brought back by a friend from Bengaluru. Fantastic with jeera rice and some homemade tart mango chutney.
thank you for trying 🙂
Thank you very much for this recipe — I’ll finally be able to make rajma in my household regularly! My son loved it, as did I. My husband wasn’t around to eat it this time but he usually passes on rajma, disliking the over-spiced version that is common in our parts. This one is comforting, not weighed down by masala, simple to make, and quite delicious — many thanks again!
Thanks for trying! I do love this recipe because of how simple it is – credits to my MIL 🙂
Loved this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing.
Easy to make and delicious.
I am glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you so much for this delicious authentic recipe, Manali. My husband who was indifferent to the idea of Rajma, loved it.
Glad to hear that Anjali! Thanks for trying!
Hi Manali,
Thanks for the recipe. The nutritional value that you have mentioned is for one serving of rajma is it?
The carbs content is pretty high?
Thank you,
Art
Hello art, I don’t mention the values. it is calculated automatically by a recipe plugin that I use. It simply divides the total calories (based on the quantity of ingredients I used) by the total number of servings I add in the recipe card. If added that this recipe will serve 5 then the carb content per serving would have been lower and so on. It is just an estimate calculated by a plugin, please consult a nutritionist for accurate results.
Is there any good way to make this without a pressure cooker or would you say it’s necessary?
for this recipe, it is necessary. It’s a very specific way that my mother in law makes and I think for that texture, we need a pressure cooker. You can check the other rajma recipe that I have on the blog and make that, for that you cook the kidney beans in a open pot if you want and then cook the masala in a pan: https://www.cookwithmanali.com/rajma-masala/
Canned red beans.
Manali,
This is a fantastic recipe! I made this yesterday in the instant pot. Kidney beans are not my favorite bean to work with, but the picture convinced me to make it. I used one tablespoon of fresh grated ginger and a 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder instead of the paste and also added one chopped serrano pepper . I soaked for 9 hours, bean/chile mode for 40min, pressure cooked for 10min, and simmered for 20min….then they sat on warm until ready to eat.
The beans looked firm but were very tender….perfect.
Thank you and your mother-in-law very much;-)!!
so glad you enjoyed it!
Do you have instructions for the Rajma using an Instant Pot pressure cooker please?
please look through the recipe, there’s a paragraph on instant pot
1. How would you cook the kidney beans in an instant pot? Not familiar with whistles.
2. Can I finely mince the 3/4 tsp. each garlic and ginger? Not familiar with garlic-ginger paste.
Thank you!
there’s a section titled “Can you Make this in the Instant Pot” in the recipe post, please have a look. Ginger-garlic paste is easily available at all Indian grocery stores and also super easy to make at home. But yes you can use minced ginger and garlic as well.