Rajma Soup

Today's late lunch special was rajma soup with knock off Doritos (It is Saturday, Indulgence Day, after all!) I did not use red kidney beans. Instead, I used "rajma chitra", the lightly speckled kidney bean. Since I did not plan it in advance, I soaked the kidney beans in piping boiling hot water for about 3 hours. I soaked before we left for the gym and once we came back, I washed the beans and then turned on the cooker. It took a ton of whistles in the pressure cooker, but it eventually cooked properly. I'm not completely proud of this recipe. My preference would have been to make it from scratch, but I guess this will work for those times that we are limited in time. So, here is the recipe.

1 cup dry rajma chitra beans (soaked in hot water for 3 hours will make 2 cups)
1 onion, chopped
3 green chilies, minced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 packet of Maggi Healthy Soups
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
Couple shots of hot sauce
1 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

1. Soak the beans in boiling water for 3 hours, overnight preferably. Then wash the beans in clean water a few times before placing in pressure cooker along with a little salt and 2 cups water. Pressure cook for 15-20 whistles. Keep to side.
2. Heat olive oil in pot. Sautee the green chilies, onions and garlic for a few minutes. Then add Maggi soup packet along with 4 cups water. Bring to boil. Keep mixing so that no lumps forms.
3. Next add in the black pepper, cumin powder, lemon juice and hot sauce. Mix again.
4. Add the cooked beans and let it come to simmer for about 10 minutes. There was too much water so we added some paste made of corn starch and water to help thicken up the soup.
5. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with breadsticks, garlic bread or by itself.

I did not add too much spices because the Maggi packet had spices in it already. Overall, it was a nice simple meal, and it tasted great.