Rajma Masala or Vegan Red Kidney Beans Curry is one of the most loved Punjabi dishes. It is a great comfort food enjoyed with rice or roti. You can make this dish in an instant pot or traditional pressure cooker. You could also make Rajma in a slow cooker. In this post, I will share how to make Rajma in Instant Pot along with Brown Rice pot-in-pot. This is a gluten-free and vegan recipe.
Rajma is also known as Red Kidney Beans. They are a rich source of fiber and protein. They serve as a great source of protein in a vegetarian recipe.
Rajma Chawal (Red Kidney Beans with Rice) used to be a favorite meal for me. Being a Punjabi, I was fortunate that my mom used to make rajma chawal almost every week when we were growing up. Now Instant Pot Rajma are my favorite. More so, as I can make the whole meal with brown rice in one pot.
How to make Rajma in Instant Pot?
Rajma or Red Beans takes longer to cook, which makes them a perfect fit for pressure cooking. In India, beans are always prepared in a traditional stove top pressure cooker. So when I got the Instant Pot, they were one of the first dishes I tried in Instant Pot. I was glad to see a “Bean/Chili” mode, which was the perfect setting to cook Rajma Masala.
In this recipe I use basic spices. You can also use Rajma Masala, which replaces all other spices in this recipe. I like the MDH brand Rajma masala powder.
As a preparation, soak the rajma beans in ample water for about 4 hours or overnight.
When you are ready to cook them, start with sauteing oil, jeera, chili pepper, onions, ginger and garlic in the Instant Pot. Then saute for 3-4 minutes. Add tomatoes and spices and saute for another 2 minutes.
Then you are ready to add the soaked beans and water to the instant pot and change setting to “Bean/Chili” mode. This will set the cooking time to 30 minutes on high pressure. Release the pressure naturally. Rajma should be ready. At this time, you can taste the rajma and if the spice is low for your taste buds, add more Garam Masala.
Red Kidney Beans Curry with Pot-in-Pot Brown Rice
One of the big advantages of the Instant Pot is – the option to do Pot-in-Pot Cooking or PIP. This means being able to cook multiple things at a time, by also cooking in a small pot inside the main pot. To do pot-in-pot cooking, you need a tall trivet and stainless steel containers that you can use within the main pot. Here are the one’s I use:
Another important thing with pot-in-pot cooking is to consider the cooking time for the dishes you want to cook together. As an example, red kidney beans take about 30 mins to cook at high pressure and brown rice take about 22-25 mins at high pressure. Hence if I add rice pot-in-pot with beans, they would get cooked well. I would not cook white rice along with rajma, however they would work well with split yellow lentils that cook in 6 mins at high pressure.
Garnish with cilantro. Serve with rice, roti or naan. You can also enjoy red beans curry as a soup.
How to make Palak Rajma Masala in Instant Pot?
Want to add greens to your meal? A great variation to this rajma recipe would to add some greens such as spinach or kale or chard to the rajma. After the rajma is cooked, stir in 2 cups of chopped greens into the curry. Let it sit for 5 minutes so the greens can soak in the flavors of the curry and enjoy!
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Delicious Rajma Masala or Red Kidney Beans Curry with Pot-in-Pot Brown Rice. This is a great way to make a complete meal in your instant pot. Red kidney beans are cooked with onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic along with aromatic spices.
- 1 cup Red Kidney Beans (Rajma) soaked for 4 hours in water
- 1 tbsp Ghee or Oil
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 1 tbsp Ginger minced
- 1 tbsp Garlic minced
- 1 Green chili pepper cut into large pieces
- 1.5 cups Onion diced
- 1 cup Tomato diced
- 2 cups Water
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- Cilantro to garnish
- 1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1 tsp Ground Cumin (Jeera powder)
- 1 tsp Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne or Red Chili powder adjust to taste
- 1 tsp Salt adjust to taste
- 1 cup Brown Rice rinsed
- 1.25 cup Water
- 1 tbsp Ghee or Oil (optional)
- 1 tsp Salt (optional)
Start the instant pot in Saute (More) mode and let it heat until it displays HOT. Add oil, cumin seeds and green chili.
Add onions, ginger and garlic. Stir and saute for about 3 minutes.
Add tomatoes and spices to the instant pot. Stir and saute for 2 more minutes.
Add the soaked rajma and water to the instant pot. Stir it all up.
Place the trivet. In a bowl, add all ingredients for brown rice and place it on top of the trivet. Close the lid with vent in sealing position.
Change the setting to "Bean/Chili" mode. This will set the timer to 30 minutes at high pressure cooking.
Once the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally.
Using tongs, carefully take out the bowl of brown rice. Then take out the trivet.
Add lemon juice and stir the rajma. Garnish with cilantro. Rajma masala is ready. Serve with rice or roti.
Recipe Video
- One simple trick to get a thicker gravy texture is to mash some of the cooked rajma with a laddle in the same pot.
- I prefer to use dry red beans, but you can make this recipe with canned beans as well. If using canned beans, you want to cook on manual for about 6 minutes with natural pressure release. If cooking with canned beans, use white rice for pot-in-pot cooking.
- If you have Rajma Masala, you can substitute all spices with it. Just add the salt and garam masala to your taste.
Note: Nutrition for Rajma Masala only, does not include Brown Rice. Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Try this recipe and let me know if how you like it. Leave a comment, like our Facebook page or share the recipe on facebook or twitter with #pipingpotcurry.
Check out other popular recipes – Mumbai Pav Bhaji, Saag Paneer, Chole Masala.
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Thank you so much for the recepie.going to try tomorrow.waiting for the family s response:))
I hope you all enjoy it, Sasikala!
I tried this recipe and the beans did cook well but it turned out slightly watery and bland. Any suggestion as to how I can make it more flavourful and not so watery?
It might also just be my tastebuds, not sure haha.
Hey Kiara – It is absolutely fine to tailor the recipe to your taste. In North India, rajma is typically enjoyed with rice and hence has a bit more liquid. You could reduce the quantity of water added. Also, as the rajma cools or when you refrigerate, it thickens. Also, feel free to increase the amount of garam masala to get more flavor. Thank you for sharing your review!
Hi, Some posted your recipe on Facebook – Instapot 101. Glad I saw it. Am going to try your recipe ! I am not familiar with the Indian spices – perhaps I can find them on Amazon ? Or maybe locally. I am near Austin TX so I expect there maybe some stores that specialize. Looking forward to making this !
Hello Carol – Thank you for coming over and checking out the blog. I am sure there will be Indian grocery stores in Austin, just try a google search. If you find a store nearby, I am sure the in store spices are much cheaper than on Amazon. I hope you enjoy Rajma!
Hi! Just made this recipe and my husband and I are looking forward to dinner tonight. I have a question though. I used a serrano pepper. I’m just learning how to cook with chili peppers so I’m not knowledgeable about which kind are best to use in various dishes. I hope the serrano was ok. From the picture of your dinner it looked like you diced the pepper, but in your video it looked like 4 long slivers. If there are just long slivers, are they too hot to eat like that or do you cut them up into littler pieces. My husband and I LOVE hot, spicy food but we’ve learned to be cautious after one excessively spicy dish!
Hey Janet – I typically use Serrano, Birdseye or Thai chili peppers in my cooking. You can either dice or add slivers. I add slivers when I want to easily remove the peppers after the curry is cooked for my little one. If you like spicy food, I think one whole serrano pepper would be okay. After you taste this curry, you can always choose to reduce the amount you add in the future. I hope you enjoyed the Rajma 🙂
Thank you! We ate the slivers of Serrano pepper before I got your reply to remove them. Hot but yummy and we loved it! I froze portions for lunch and more for dinner. Hot, spicy, easy to make. This will be a regular for us! (It really is worth 6 stars. )
Aww…thank you so much for your kind words. So happy that you enjoyed it! This is definitely comfort food for me 🙂
I have some rajma masala. How many tbsp of that should I add?
Hey Kiara – About 1 tbsp of Rajma Masala should be enough. I hope you enjoy it!
I generally soak the Rajma overnight if I am using regular pressure cooker. I just like the taste better when it is soaked for longer. Will the cook Time be same if I soak the Rajma overnight? I hope it will not get mushy if I keep it for 30 mins. I am not planning to do PIP.
Also, I have an IP LUX 5qt with no Bean/Chili mode. Should I just do manual 30 mins for overnight soaked Rajma?
Options I see are soup/broth or meat/stew or porridge or slow cook…never tried any of these before.
Hey Shruti – Even for overnight soaked rajma, I would recommend 30 mins on manual mode. Bean/chili is just a default setting for manual 30 minutes. I will add that to the recipe. The porridge mode works great for kheer 🙂
Thank you so much Meeta for the quick response.
Coincidentally I also prepared kheer today but using traditional pan method as my IP lid still smells like butter chicken I made 2 days back ????
I did try the vinegar steam method but it still has some the savory smell and I didn’t want to take risk with my kheer. May be i should get the colored rings.
Hey Shruti – What a coincidence about kheer 🙂 I agree having a separate sealing ring for sweet foods, especially ones with milk is very helpful.
Hi, I’m going to try your recipe today and looking forward to it! I’ve soaked kidney beans for 6 hours. What should be the time to cook only rajma without rice?
Hey Sushma – The cooking time will remain the same. I hope you enjoy the rajma 🙂
Should I buy talk 3″ trivet or 2″ trivet from amazon. The 2″ one can also hold eggs. I guess my question is the one inch higher better? (Esp for your rajma pip rice)
Hey Sejal – I have a 3” tall trivet. The 2” may work, however I cannot say for sure. Consider what all you might be using this trivet for, and choose accordingly. I have kept 3 eggs on this trivet too, but I know the egg holder one’s can fit 7 eggs. Sorry, I was not too helpful!
Thx! Seeing that I would only boil 3 eggs anyway, I’ll go with the taller. By the way, your recipes are all great! We use many of them regularly.
Thank you, Sejal. So glad to hear you have tried many recipes on the blog. I would love to see any reviews / feedback you have for them. I also use the trivet that came with the ip to boil eggs, and can easily fit 6 or more on it. However it is quite short, and not great for cooking with a curry.
Hi, I’m going to try your recipe tonight for dinner and am looking forward to it! For the brown rice, do I have to soak it? I’m assuming not b/c you didn’t mention it but just checking.
Hi Christina – I do not soak the brown rice, just rinse them. Looking forward to hear how they turn out!
Thanks for the recipe.
What does Pressure release manually mean….does it mean naturally or not
Hey Molly – I meant to say naturally NPR. I will clarify on the recipe when I am near my laptop. Hope you enjoy it!
What should the pressure cooking time be for 2 cups beans?
Hey JJ – The cooking time will remain the same even if you double the quantity. Hope you enjoy it!
Thank you!
Whats the rajma to water ratio?
Hey Anu – I use 1 cup Rajma to 2 cups water ratio. Then after they are cooked you can adjust liquid to your preference.
I am in love with your recipes. I just realized that I can adjust the recipes for the number of servings. I am punjabi and since I bought the instant pot and discovered your site, I have made more punjabi food in the last two months than I have in the last 2 years!
Aww…thank you so much! I know the serving size adjuster is not very obvious. I am glad you are liking the punjabi recipes. I am doing a lot more cooking since I got the instant pot too 😉 I hope you enjoy the other recipes too!
I am loving all of the recipes- your recipes are the most authentic. I am happy to be making this food so my kids regularly eat Punjabi food. Thanks you very much. I have told a lot of friends about your site.
Thank you! I am glad that the blog is helping to share the love for Punjabi food ❤️❤️
how long did you soak the Rajma Beans
Soak them for 4 or more hours. Soaking overnight is great as well.
Hi I could only soak for 1 hour. How long should I cook?
Hey Purvi – Soak in warm water for 1 hour if you are short on time. Then cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. Hope you enjoy it 🙂
great!
Thank you!
The whole family loved this recipe! My wife usually isn’t a big fan of curry but she really liked this one. We are going to try of a few the other recipes this month. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing back. I am happy that your family loved it.
Anu- I am going to double the recipe and I don’t plan to cook the rice with it (I don’t ha e a trivet,yet). How would you adjust the water and cooking time?
Hey Ashman – The cooking time will remain the same even if you don’t cook rice pot-in-pot with the rajma. Hope you enjoy them!
Sorry about the name mix up. My bad.
No worries at all 🙂