Rajma masala recipe with step by step photos - Rajma chawal is one of the most famous dishes in North India. It is a delicious wholesome meal. 

There are three types of rajma readily available in the market: 

1. Small dark colour, also known as Kashmiri rajma.

2. Big dark colour

3. Light colour with small dark colour lines.

You can choose any of the three. my recommendation is the first one i.e, Kashmiri Rajma. They taste best for rajma masala recipe.

Here goes the step by step Rajma masala recipe:

Rajma masala recipe

Ingredients: 

Rajma(Kidney beans) : 1.5 cup
Tomato - 5-6 (medium size)
Onion - 2 medium size
Ginger and garlic paste - 2 Tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 Tsp
Cardamom- 3-4
Bay leaf - 1 or 2
Red chilli powder - 1 Tsp or to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 Tsp
Garam masala - 1 Tsp
Salt - to taste.

Rajma masala recipe:

1. Soak rajma overnight.
2. Pressure cook it with salt. Use the same water in which it was soaked. Add more water if required. Two whistles on high flame and two on low flame should be enough if you are using small Kashmiri Rajma. Don't open the cooker
3. Heat oil in a pan.
4. Add cumin seeds, green/black cardamom, bay leaf. Let them splutter.
5. Add chopped onions. Cook it until it becomes light golden brown. The flame should be medium.
6. Add ginger garlic paste. 
7. Put roughly chopped tomatoes in a blender. Make a smooth paste.
8. Add this puree to the masala. 
9. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt. 
10. Mix everything well and let it cook until oil separates. 
11. Add rajma with the water in which it was boiled. You can add more water depending on how much gravy you want.
12. Mash some of the rajma with the back of the spatula while stirring it. This will give good consistency to the gravy.
13. Rajma is ready to be served. Rajma tastes best with plain boiled rice and curd/raita.

Rajma Masala recipe with step by step photos:

1. Soak rajma overnight or for 8-10 hours.

Overnight soaked rajma

2. Boil it with salt. Use same water in which it was soaked.

Boil rajma with Salt

3. Heat Oil in a pan.

Heat oil

4. Add cumin seeds, black/green cardamom and bay leaves. You can also add carom seeds(Ajwain). It will also taste good.

Add Jeera, cardamom and bay leaves

5. Add chopped onions. Let it cook until light golden brown.

Add onions

6. Add ginger garlic paste once onions are cooked properly.

Add ginger garlic paste

7. Add roughly chopped tomatoes in a blender.

Blend tomatoes

8. Make a smooth puree.

Make smooth tomato puree

9. Add puree to the masala.

Add tomato puree

10. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt, coriander powder and garam masala.

Add salt turmeric and chilli powder

Add coriander powder and garam masala

11. Cook it until oil separates.

Cook it until oil separates

12. Add boiled rajma with the water in which it was boiled.

Add boiled rajma with the same water

13. You can add more water depending on how much gravy you want.  Cook it for 8-10 minutes. Mash some of the rajma with the back of your spatula. It will give a good consistency to the gravy.

Let it cook for 8-10 minutes

14. Rajma is ready to be served. It tastes best with plain boiled rice and curd/ raita.

Rajma Chawal

Do try out this recipe and share your experience with me in the comment section below.😊

Poha recipe with step by step photos - Poha is one of the most popular breakfast recipes in India. It is very healthy. It is neither too light nor too heavy! It can be prepared very quickly and easily. However, I have seen people struggling to get the perfect soft and flaky poha. Either it becomes too lumpy or chewy. So, in this blog, I have tried to cover everything that can go wrong while preparing poha. I hope these tips and tricks will help you get the perfect poha every single time!

Servings: 3-4
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients:

Poha(White or red) - 2 cups
Peanuts - handful
Potato - 1 medium size
Carrots - 1-2(Optional)
Capsicum - 1(Optional)
Beans - 4-5(Optional)
Onion - 1
Tomato - 2-3
Ginger - 1 inch
Green chillies - 3-4
Curry Leaves - 10-15
Mustard seeds - 1/2 Tsp
Coriander chopped (for garnish)
Lime juice - to taste (Optional)
Oil - 2 Tbsp
Salt - to taste

Poha recipe:

1.  Wash poha in a strainer. 
2.  Heat oil in a pan.
3.  Add peanuts and saute them until they are a little dark in colour. 
4.  Once done, keep it aside.
5.  Add chopped potatoes and a little salt in same oil. Cover it and let it cook on low flame.
6.  Meanwhile, chop other vegetables.
7.  Once potatoes are cooked, keep them aside with peanuts.
8.  Now add a little more oil if required.
9. Add mustard seeds. Let it splutter. 
10. Add curry leaves,  chopped ginger and green chillies.
11. Saute it for about a min on low-medium flame.
12. Add sliced onions and turmeric powder. 
13. Add sliced carrots, capsicum and chopped beans. All these are optional. I have added carrot this time. 
14. Mix everything then cover it and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes on low-medium flame. Few people like properly cooked vegetable few like them to be crunchy. 
15. Meanwhile, check if the poha is soft enough. If not, then go ahead and wash it once more.
16. Once these vegetables are little soft you can add tomato and salt. 
17. Cook it for another 2-3 minutes. 
18. Add potatoes and peanuts that we have kept aside in step 4 & 7.
19. Mix everything well. Then add soaked poha. If your poha was very thick then you should wash it again before adding it.
20. Mix it well and cover it for 2-3 minutes on low flame.
21. Sprinkle some lime juice and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
22. Poha is ready! You can add some sev/aloo bhujiya before serving.

Poha recipe with step by step photos:

1. Wash poha in a strainer. Keep it aside. It will become soft in some time. If poha is really thick then wash it 2-3 times. 

Wash poha in a strainer

2. Heat oil in a pan.

Heat oil

3. Add peanuts. Saute them until they turn dark in colour. Make sure that the flame is low.

Add Peanuts

3. Now remove peanuts and keep them aside. Add chopped potatoes in same oil. Add some salt. Cover it and let it cook for 3-4 minutes on low flame. You can skip this step if you want to use boiled potatoes. That will also taste good.

Add potatoes

4. Once potatoes are done. You can keep it aside with peanuts.

Cooked potatoes

5. Add a little more oil if required. Add mustard seeds in the same oil. Let it splutter.

Added mustard seeds

6. Add curry leaves.

Added curry leaves

7. Add chopped/grated ginger and finely chopped green chillies.

Added chopped ginger and green chillies

8. Add sliced onions.

Added onions

9. Add turmeric powder.

Added turmeric

10. Add carrots. You can also add capsicum, beans etc. Cover them and let it cook for 3-4 minutes on low-medium flame.

Added carrots

11. While vegetables are getting cooked you can wash poha again under running water if it is not soft enough. Otherwise skip this step.

Soaked poha

12.  Once vegetables are soft you can add tomatoes and salt.

Added tomatoes + salt

13.  Add peanuts and potatoes that we kept aside in step 4.

Added potatoes and peanuts

14. Now it's time to add poha. Check if it's soft enough. If not then wash it again before adding. Mix everything well. Sprinkle some lime juice. Cover it and let it cook for 2-3 minutes on low flame.

Wash it again if not soft enough

15. Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve it. You can also add sev/ aloo bhujiya.

Poha is ready!

Tips:

Poha recipe is really simple and can be prepared quickly. However, many people find it challenging to get the perfect texture. Sometimes poha is too dry or chewy or if you soak it then becomes lumpy... almost like a upma. Even I have struggled with this problem for a really long time. Now I have finally found the hack to get perfect poha every single time! 😎

1.  The first tip is to find the right poha. For this recipe, you should get thick poha. Avoid using patla or thin poha or milk poha. Red poha also comes in two similar variations. For this recipe, you should take thicker one. 
2. The second important tip is to soak it correctly. Use a strainer! Earlier I used to wash and soak it in a bowl. Somehow that never worked for me. Wash it under running water in a strainer before you start cooking. Wash it once more while vegetables are getting cooked and once again before mixing it. This always works well for me. 

Today I am sharing restaurant style kadai paneer recipe with step by step photos. Kadai paneer is very popular paneer dish served in restaurants. Kadai paneer recipe is easy yet tasty! Here goes the recipe of scrumptious Kadai paneer....

Kadai Paneer Recipe

Servings: 4

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients: 

Paneer - 200gm

Tomato - 3-4 medium size

Capsicum - 1

Onion - 1 medium size
Coriander leaves (chopped) - for garnish

Coriander seeds - 1 Teaspoon

Cumin Seeds - 2 Teaspoon

Dried red chilli - 3-4

Turmeric - 1/4 Tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 Tablespoon

Kadai Paneer recipe:

For a very long time, I had this misconception that kadai paneer is called kadai paneer because it is prepared in a kadai.😆 Later I came to know that it is because of kadai masala😅. So let's start by preparing kadai masala!

1. Dry roast 1 Tsp cumin seeds, 1 Tsp coriander seeds, dried red chillies until it is fragrant.
2. Cool it a little then, grind it to a coarse powder. Kadai masala is ready! Keep it aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan.
4. Add cumin seeds, coriander seeds and dried red chilli. Let it splutter.
5. Add 2-3 chopped tomatoes and grated ginger. Sauté it for a min. Save one tomato. We will use it later.
6. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt. Mix every thing well.
7. Add Kadai masala(prepared in step 2).
8. Cover it and cook it on a low - medium flame until oil separates. 
9. Add diced tomatoes, onion, capsicum and paneer. Mix everything and cover it. Cook it for another 8-10 minutes on low flame. 
10. Kadai Paneer is ready! Garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve it hot with any of your favourite Indian bread.

Kadai Paneer step by step recipe with photos:

1. Dry roast 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 3/4th teaspoon coriander seeds, dried red chillies until it is fragrant.

Dry roast dried red chilli, cumin and coriander seeds

2. Grind it to a coarse powder.

Grind it.

3. Kadai Masala is ready! Keep it aside.

Kadai Masala is ready!

4. Heat oil in a pan.

Heat oil

5. Add cumin seeds and coriander seeds.

Added cumin seeds and coriander seeds.

6. Add dried red chilli.

Added dry red chilli.

7. Add chopped tomatoes and grated ginger.

Added tomato and ginger.

8. Add salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.

Added salt, turmeric and red chilli powder.

9. Add kadai masala. Saute it on low flame till oil separates.

Added kadai masala

10. Add diced tomato, capsicum, onions and paneer. Mix everything well and cook it on low flame for  10-12 minutes.

Added diced Paneer, tomato, onion and capsicum.

11. Kadai paneer is ready! Garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve it hot with kulcha or naan or tandoori roti or any Indian bread of your choice!

Kadai Paneer served with Kulcha.

Do try this recipe and share your feedback in the comment section below.