Every once in a while, I get a craving for a different kind of lentils - not the usual tuar dhal with some veggies. So, I poked around my books until I found this recipe for rajmah (who wouldn't love that?!) flavored with pomegranate seeds. Rock! I got all excited about this! Wait ... no rajmah - canned or raw! And I don't feel like running to the store. Hmm ... how about white kidney beans instead? A lot softer, but it might work. And it did! The next time around, I might go a little easier on the masala, seems like the red beans absorb a lot more of the spices than the cannellini beans.
The original recipe that I based off of (someday, I'll try to follow a recipe all the way instead of improvising along the way :)) is from Art of Indian Cuisine - I bought this book at Landmark last year.
(my morphed version!)
2 C of cannellini beans
1T butter
1 onion - minced
2t ginger paste
2t garlic paste
1/2 C tomato puree
1t turmeric
2T pomegranate seeds
For the masala
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2t dhania seeds
3 red chillies
2t jeera seeds
4 cloves
1" cinnamon
rock salt
Dry roast and grind the spices for the masala.
How to:
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Cook the beans (if using raw beans) in about 6 cups of water till tender, mash some of the beans against the side of the pan
Heat the butter and add the onions, ginger and garlic. I massively cut down on the butter needed, so this step took quite a while!
Add the tomato puree and cook for another minute
Throw in the masala and turmeric along with the salt and cook for 2-3 minutes
Add the beans to this and bring to a boil - takes about 5-7 minutes
Dry roast and grind the pomegranate seeds to a fine powder before adding it to the beans. Garnish with a ton of cilantro :)
I felt the craving for salad, indian style, to go with this. So, I chopped up a bunch of veggies and drizzled them with lemon-ginger juice. It made for a much prettier picture than most other dishes! :)
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