Rajma

Rajma is red kidney beans simmered in a thick onion-tomato gravy with ginger and garam masala. It is Punjab's everyday bean curry, and rajma chawal — rajma with rice — is one of North India's most common home lunches, plain enough to cook on a weeknight without a second thought.

What it really is

Dried kidney beans are soaked overnight and boiled until fully soft, then added to a base of onion and tomato cooked down with ginger, garlic and garam masala until it thickens into a coating gravy rather than a thin soup. The beans simmer in that gravy long enough to take on its flavour fully, softening further at the edges until some of them break down and thicken the sauce even more.

The gravy is meant to cling, not pool. A rajma that's too thin and soupy has usually been rushed; the dish wants time on the stove for the tomato and onion to properly break down and coat the beans.

How it is served

• In a bowl with steamed rice, the standard pairing.
• With a wedge of lemon and raw onion on the side.
• As a simple home lunch or dinner, rarely as a restaurant showpiece.

How to write it on the menu

• It is naturally vegan and vegetarian as standard.
• Say if rice or roti is included, since rajma is rarely served as a standalone dish.
• Note that it's a slow-cooked dish, since a version made from canned, pre-cooked beans is noticeably thinner and less developed in flavour.