Rajma Gosht
Lahori-style rajma cooked with mutton, liver and kidney
- Cooking time60 mins
- Calories333kcal
While rajma chawal is a staple in Punjabi households all over North India, rajma gosht is not very common among families this side of the border. Beans-and-meat, as a combinations, props up in culinary cultures all across the globe, and it is, as Rahul puts it, a "match made in heaven".
In this episode of Pasher Barir Ranna, Chef Rahul Arora, whose family hails from pre-Partition Lahore, makes a hearty gosht rajma—kidney beans cooked with goat liver, kidney, and meat—a recipe he learnt from his Lahori neighbour in Delhi.
For a beans-and-meat recipe he keeps it very light—choosing to not braise the onions and tomatoes for very long—instead using the freshness and acidity of ripe tomatoes to cut through the starchy richness of the beans.
He also swaps out the larger, darker Chitra rajma, which are commonly used in North India, for the smaller, brightly red Jammu rajma. These cook faster and have a sweeter taste. Rahul buys his Jammu rajma from the spice lane inside New Market, Calcutta, but you can look for it in your reliable neighbourhood grocery shop as well.
Rahul also whips up a zingy, refreshing Punjabi-style papaya salad to go with the rajma chawal. This is a versatile salad recipe that can be a fun addition to your repertoire.
The green papaya salad recipe is available to Patrons on Bong Eats Adda. 🌟 Become a Patron.
Ingredients
To boil rajma
- 250 g Jammu rajma (kidney beans)
- 15 g salt
- 1 L water
For the warm marinade
- 200 g boneless mutton (3-cm cube)
- 200 g mutton liver and kidney (3-cm cube)
- 10 g mustard oil
- 25 g ghee
- 2 black cardamom
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 g ginger (finely chopped)
- 6 g green chillies (finely chopped)
- 10 g kashmiri red chilli
- 10 g coriander powder
- 2 g garam masala powder
- 8 g salt
- ½ tsp pepper powder
For the tadka
- 15 g mustard oil
- 10 g ghee
- 5 g kashmiri red chilli
- 250 g onions (pureed)
- 250 g tomato (pureed)
- 60 ml hot water
For garnishing
- butter
- coriander leaves
Method
Step 1—Boil the rajma
- Wash the rajma well, and soak it overnight in 1 L water.
- The next day, boil it using the same water that was used to soak the rajma, along with 15 g salt. In our pressure cooker (the model without the whistle) it took about 15 mins after reaching full pressure.
Step 2—Make the warm marinade
- Heat a kadai, and add mustard oil and ghee.
- On low heat, temper with black cardamom and bay leaf.
- Add the chopped ginger and green chillies, and fry them for about a minute.
- Add the mutton, liver and kidney, and mix everything until well coated.
- Add the powdered spices: kashmiri red chilli, coriander powder, garam masala powder, pepper powder and salt.
- Mix everything again, cover the pan, turn off the heat, and let the meat soak in this warm marinade for about 30 mins.
Step 3—For the tadka
- Directly in a clean pressure cooker, heat mustard oil and ghee. Keep the heat low, or switched off, and add kashmiri red chilli powder (be careful so as to not burn it).
- Add the warm-marinated meat, and sauté on medium heat, about 5 mins.
- Add the pureed tomato and onions, along with 60 ml hot water.
- Mix everything together, and pressure cook until the meat is done. In our model it took 10 mins, after reaching full pressure.
- Open the pressure cooker and add in the boiled rajma. Set it on dum for one last time to allow all the flavours to mingle. Adjust consistency of the stew as needed.
- While serving garnish with some butter and chopped coriander leaves. Eat it with hot basmati rice.