Monday, April 2, 2012

Spinach And Kidney Beans (Rajma) Briyani


          Since I got my first taste of rajma (kidney beans) I am a big fan of it. Rajma with some plain rice and curd, that's comfort food to me, I simply love these beans. For today's dish I made a briyani (rice preparation) with these super healthy beans and spinach. It turned out to be a hearty, wholesome meal, a very healthy one pot dish, a good lunch box recipe..

Need To Have
  • Basmati Rice - 2 cups
  • Kidney Beans - 1 cup
  • Spinach - 2 cups chopped
  • Onions - 2 big chopped
  • Tomatoes - 2 medium chopped
  • Coriander Powder - 2 teaspoons
  • Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
  • Garam Masala Powder - 1 teaspoon
  • Broken Cashews - 2 tablespoons
  • Cinnamon - 2" stick
  • Cloves - 4
  • Star Anise - 2
  • Bay Leaf - 1
Make A Paste
  • Green Chillies - 8
  • Garlic Cloves - 6
  • Ginger - 1 + 1/2 tablespoon chopped
  • Fennel Seeds - 1 teaspoon
  • Javentri - 1/2 " piece

Method
          Soak the kidney beans overnight and pressure cook them. Soak the basmati rice for 1/2 an hour. Heat oil, add the cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf and the star anise, once they sizzle add the cashews, roast for a few secs, then add the onions. Saute the onions till transparent, then add the paste and saute till the raw smell goes away. Now, add the tomatoes, saute till mushy, add the turmeric, coriander and garam masala powder,  mix everthing. Add the drained rice, spinach and salt, mix for few more mins, add 5 cups of water. Once the water starts boiling, reduce the flame and cook till almost done and very little water is left. Now mix in the rajma and switch off and don't disturb for 1/2 an hour. Serve it warm with any raitha or even plain curds.
Sending it to Cuisine Delights for the Spotlight - Lunch Box Ideas event,
                 to Food Corner for the Midweek Fiesta event,
                 to Spice And Curry for Priya's Healthy Diet - Easy And Healthy Lunch event,
                 to Srav's Cooking Concepts for the CC - Spring Seasonal Food event,
                 to Zesty Palette for Vidhya's Love Lock Series - Legumes event and
                 to Taste Of Pearl City for the Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy event.

Note
Can use brown basmati rice to make it even more healthier.
Can use 2 cardamoms instead of the javentri.






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35 comments:

  1. Comfort dish,healthy an and yum pot meal..love it

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  2. Quite a healthy one with such flavorful ingredients...I'm totally in love with it. :)

    Ongoing Event: Cooking Made Easy With Yogurt

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  3. Never tried rice with rajma, sounds yum and came out well too

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  4. Lovely, yummy and healthy biriyani with spinach and rajma :-)

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  5. Healthy one pot meal. Sounds yum with spinach combo.

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  6. spinach and rajma in biryani sounds great...luv to try this healthy version.

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  7. Healthy and flavorful one pot meal... Nice one

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  8. Hey, this rice dish looks very flavorful and healthy, am going to try it out soon..

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  9. wat a tempting pics..n u done this rice dish perfectly...can feel the taste..
    Maha

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  10. healthy,flavourful n comfort dish!!

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  11. Delicious comfort dish here! I know I could eat this and be satisfied,even though there is no poultry, seafood or meat in it. Great componenta and preparation-yum!

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  12. delicious yummy healhty food..awesome dear

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  13. New n yummy biriyani..lovely,unique n tempting one:-)

    Erivum Puliyum

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  14. am not a big fan of rajma but the idea of one pot meal is very tempting though :)

    Ongoing Event : WTML

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  15. very nutritious Biryani...looks so yummy n inviting!!
    Glad to check all your spaces after a long time,missed a lot!!
    Spicy Treats

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  16. Wow!! Rajma Biryani... an aromatic health packed dish.. Great way to enjoy these beans.. Thank you for linking with Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy :)

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  17. This is absolutely delicious. A healthy and tasty dish X

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  18. Healthy rice with spinach and beans. Protein packed. Thx for linking to the event.

    Vardhini
    Event: Legumes
    Event: Side Dishes

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  19. Healthy and protein packed one pot meal...looks delicious and inviting.

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  20. very healthy and delicious looking biryani..looks so inviting!!
    Spicy-Aroma

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  21. Wat a healthy and super delicious one pot meal,loving it.

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  22. Truly healthy and inviting briyani dear...gosh I want some now ;)

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  23. Awesome recipe! Wonderful combination and very healthy too :)

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  24. Very healthy yummy combo rice...Thanks for linking my event.

    Cuisine Delights
    My Monthly Event - Spotlight : "Lunchbox Ideas".

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  25. Healthy, flavourful and delicious biryani ,nice combination of spinach and rajma..
    ANJANA

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  26. interesting and healthy recipe. love it.

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  27. rajma pulav... super idea! never made it before :)

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  28. Love biryani! Thanks so much for the recipe :) I'm definitely gonna try this out as my boyfriend loves biryani and I still have not got a clue how to make it perfectly!

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  29. Inviting and nutritious packed biryani !! Thanks for linking to the event !!

    Ongoing event
    CC:Spring Seasonal Food

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  30. yummy and healthy and a new combo ..

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  31. Rajma bIriyani !! the name itself sounds great !! thank u Hema for sharing this innovative recipe to Healthy Morsels- Pregnancy :)

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  32. I followed the recipe exactly, step by step and came out with a very mushy uneatable. I love your recipes and can't figure out what went wrong with this one

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    Replies
    1. Hi Monica, sorry about that, the possible mistakes, could be you have added the rajma without draining the extra water, or it got a little overcooked, or you mixed the rice when it was still hot..

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