Red Kidney Bean Curry (Rajmah)

I'm going to have to apologize for the unappetizing pictures during Lent. I imagine I'm going to be eating a lot of beans and curries and stews, which don't exactly photograph well.

Like Deb says on Smitten Kitchen, this curry is the Indian cousin of an American chili. I only had light red kidney beans, but I'm sure the dark red would've stood out more and made it more colorful, so if you're really into aesthetics, go for the dark red kidney beans. This was nice and spicy because I doubled the cayenne pepper and used a serrano pepper. Some plain yogurt on top cooled it down slightly. If you don't like the flavor of fresh ginger, go ahead and reduce the ginger a bit; it definitely had a strong taste of ginger.

I wasn't the biggest fan of this. It was all right, but something was a little off about the flavors. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it that night. It certainly made my kitchen smell like an Indian restaurant though!


Red Kidney Bean Curry [Rajmah]
adapted from: Smitten Kitchen
Serves 6

Ingredients
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 plum tomato, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large green chili, chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
8 ounce can of tomato sauce or 8 ounces of one of your choice
3 cups boiled red kidney beans or 30 ounces canned red kidney beans, undrained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro


Preparation
Heat oil in a deep sauce pan over medium heat for one minute.
Add ginger, garlic, onion, green chili, and let sizzle for one minute.
Add the tomato sauce, salt and remaining spices and cook for an additional five minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the kidney beans with water or canned red kidney beans (undrained) plus one additional cup of water, and tomatoes.
Bring it to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and let cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Garnish with cilantro.
Serve over rice or with naan.