Head here in a few hours for a look at Lok Lak to Pat Prik Gang and Soup Psut. And so the recipe for the day is that dish that a lot of us hate, a lot of us love, but no one can really ignore, that simplest of the simple, the Rajma Chawal or kidney beans curry and rice.
My first taste of Rajma Chawal was during my student days in Pune. I shared a flat with a couple of my batchmates and we had a kitchen, replete with a cooking gas and even a fridge. But there was a small hitch. None of us cooked and as we were all caught up in the craziness of mass communication studies, none of us had the inclination to learn either. While breakfast was skipped and lunch was almost always a Vada Pav and Iced tea at the college canteen, dinner had started to loom on our heads as the ‘eternal problem.’ It was not like we had enough allowance to eat out every day and packed Vada Pav had stopped cutting it anymore. The solution was a ‘Dabbavalah’, a Tiffin-box man who would deliver packed dinners to our doorstep every week-night. We decided on two ‘Dabbas’for three people. The quantity was more than enough and it was easy on our pocket. The menu was mostly Rice, 3 rotis, a dry side dish of some sorts, a fresh salad of onion, tomato and chilli, a mango pickle and the main gravy. This would be either a Dal, or a potato curry or more often than not Rajma.
I loved it in the beginning. The juicy beans in a thick tomato and onion based sauce with a hint of blended Masalas. It was the perfect pick-me-up after a whole day of eating next to nothing. The love-affair went on till it became the only gravy that the Dabbavalah provided for a whole month. I started seeing the kidney shaped beans in my sleep and to me it became the symbol of the struggling student. I swore off it, refusing to eat it for almost five years, even when I worked in the North, the birthplace of the dish.
But then in 2009 I got married to a Rajma enthusiast, someone who enjoyed making the curry that reminded him of warm meals during chilly Delhi afternoons. And so after five years of avoidance, I got re-acquainted with that former friend of mine, while curled up on a sofa in the Philippines and decided that maybe I’d been too harsh in judging it.
The dish has been a regular since then and I’ve stumbled on a recipe that is my favourite version of the curry. Enjoy.
Ingredients
1 cup Rajma (I use the canned kidney beans found in most supermarkets. This is pre-cooked. Otherwise you need to pressure cook it for 1 and ½ hrs)
2 small onions – sliced
1 ½ tsp of Ginger-Garlic paste
3 tomatoes – chopped
1 tsp chilli powder
½ tsp ginger powder
½ tsp Jeera (fennel/cumin) Powder
½ tsp Jeera (cumin seeds)
A pinch of Garam Masala
A handful of coriander leaves
2 tbsp of Oil
Salt
2 glasses of water
Process
Heat oil in a pan
Add onion, ginger-garlic paste and Jeera. Fry for 3 minutes
Add tomatoes. Fry for 4 minutes
Add the rest of the powders. Fry for 2 minutes
Add Rajma and water. Cook for 15 minutes
Sprinkle the Garam masala and garnish with the coriander leaves
And you are done.
I usually serve this with plain rice, a few slices of onion sprinkled with vinegar and salt and some mango pickle. This time we even added a Pappadam or two.
It’s a comfort food as long as you don’t overdo it. ;)
I’d love to hear what you thought of it!
And as usual till the next post, here’s to Yummies in your tummies!
Cheers!
Now Muringayilla and parippu is one of those curries that are made quite often by Malayali grandmothers, fed to school children with rice, telling them that it will do wonders for their memory and make them grow tall and their bones stronger. This is not just an old wives tale. While drumsticks or Muringakaaya are widely known for their nutrients, so are the leaves. But it’s not the health benefits that attract me to the curry but the taste. The leaves have a subtle flavour which when blended with the Dal reminds me of home and simpler times, when the most complicated thing in my life used to be my trigonometry homework. The hint of chilly powder, the slight coarseness of the grated coconut and that unique flavour of cumin, all come together so harmoniously to create an effortless yet distinctive taste. Pour the slightly watery gravy on your rice, take a helping of cabbage thoran, a teaspoon of pickle and a dash of curd. Whether you’re eating alone, sitting on the couch, as the TV blares on or even if you’re sitting with your loved ones, joking and catching up, the flavours will wrap you up in a warm homely embrace.
And so to re-create those simpler days or simply recollect them if you are a Malayalee, here goes the recipe
Muringayilla and Parippu
Ingredients:
One cup Toor dal
One bunch Muringayilla (Leaves to be plucked off the stalks. Some grocers offer pre-plucked packets. And this makes life a whole lot easier)
1 tomato quartered
½ tsp Haldi (turmeric powder)
½ tsp Chilli powder
One cup grated coconut
1 tsp – Jeera (Cumin seeds)
One tomato – chopped
Varavu (seasoning)
1 tsp mustard seeds
3 dried red chillies
1 small onion sliced
Process:
Add three cups of water for the one cup of Dal and pressure cook with Haldi and chilli powder.
This will take around 20-25 minutes.
Once done, add the Muringayilla (which should have been washed and kept aside by this point)
Add half-cup water per one cup of Muringayilla
Also add the quartered tomato.
Mix and let it cook.
Grind/Blend the coconut and Jeera coarsely and keep aside.
When the Dal and Muringayilla start to boil, add the coconut and jeera blend.
Stir and cook on medium heat, till it starts to boil. Switch off.
Seasoning:
In a frying pan, heat some oil. Once it starts smoking sputter mustard seeds.
Add the red chillies and the sliced onion. Saute for a bit. Switch off
Pour over the Muringayilla and Dal and Voila! You’re done! J
I’ll be sharing the cabbage Thoran recipe soon. So keep watching this space for that more.
Till the next post then, as always here’s to yummies in your tummies!
Cheers.
