Rajma
Also known as: kidney beans, rajma chawal
What Rajma is
Kidney beans in their North Indian and Himalayan role: simmered into a thick onion-tomato gravy and ladled over rice as rajma chawal — for many north Indians and Nepalis, the definition of comfort food. They need real cooking, and they need it boiled, not slow-cooked.
Kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) — a New World bean that travelled to the subcontinent and settled deepest in the hills of Uttarakhand, Jammu and Himachal, where thin-skinned mountain-grown rajma is considered the best. Red kidney beans are standard; speckled chitkabra beans, marbled red-and-cream, are the prized traditional variety.
Taste and texture
Earthy-sweet with a floury-creamy interior once fully cooked; the skin holds enough shape that a good rajma is still bean-and-gravy, not purée. The gravy thickens from the beans' own starch rather than from much flour.
Forms to buy
- Red kidney (standard) — The everyday bean for rajma masala.
- Speckled (chitkabra) — Thin-skinned mountain variety; cooks faster and is worth grabbing when seen.
How to cook it
Soak 8–12 hours and discard the soaking water. Then boil hard for at least 30 minutes before anything else goes in — raw kidney beans contain phytohaemagglutinin, a natural toxin that soaking alone does not remove; a full rolling boil destroys it, which is why rajma must never go straight from dry into a slow cooker. After the hard boil, pressure-cook 4–5 whistles until creamy, build an onion-ginger-garlic-tomato masala, finish with garam masala, and ladle over steamed rice.
Buying note
Typically ¥700–¥1,000 per kilogram; speckled bags cost more when they appear. Look for glossy, unbroken beans of even size; dull, cracked skins break to mush unevenly. Japanese supermarkets stock kidney beans too, but Indian grocers' rajma turns over faster and costs less.