Kidney Bean and Tomato Curry Recipe

Filed under: Ingredients » Yellow Onion, Tomatoes, Seasonings » Coriander Powder,

Looking for a Fresh Summer Curry with a Kick?

Then look no further than Vegetarian Times' (July/Aug 2010) magazine's Kidney Bean and Tomato Curry Indian recipe. This is a spicy Indian twist on your traditional rice and bean dish.

Looking for an Easy, Quick Curry? You Just Found It

This particular curry recipe takes an astoundingly small amount of time to both prepare and cook. Start out by frying 1/2 cup of chopped onion until they turn light brown. You'll want to add a cup of chopped tomatoes (which are just coming in season at the time of this writing), a teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric, and 2 teaspoons coriander. Mix it all up, cover it up and let it cook for a couple minutes, until the tomatoes feel nice and soft.

Don't Forget to Get Your Rice Cooking!

Something we often forget to do when cooking Indian dishes is boiling the rice while all the other excitement is going down in the kitchen. Yes, it's the easiest part, but also the easiest to screw up - so watch your timer and remove the rice on time (and not a minute too soon).

We actually use a plastic microwave container for boiling our rice. It has a lid with holes on top (also useful for steaming veggies). For 2 people, we add a cup of rice and two cups water - then boil on high for 5 minutes, and on half power for 14 minutes or so. Remove, stir, and serve when it's ready - you should be able to get the rest of the recipe done in time.

Turn Down the Heat By Adding Some Refreshingly Cool Yogurt

Now for the fun part. The yogurt, in our opinion, is what makes this dish so awesome. We're huge fans of spicy curries with a nice, refreshing yogurt to cool things off. So here we go - add 4 tablespoons yogurt and a cup of water, whisking them together briskly. At this point, it's time to add the other staple ingredient. You got it - the beans. By the way, you don't need to use kidney beans - any bean (black, white, pinto, chickpea, etc.) will do. Stir in your choice of bean, cover the whole shebang and bring it all to a nice boil. As soon as it starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Where oh Where is the Garam Masala?

If you're having trouble finding garam masala in your grocery store - we found it in the spice aisle at our local Harris Teeter - not in the international aisle where we would have expected to find it. What is garam masala you ask? It's a mix of Indian spices - coriander, black pepper, cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon.

At this point, all that's left is mashing down some of the beans in the pan, adding the garam masala, lemon juice, and some salt & pepper to taste.

One Kidney Bean Tomato Curry Coming Right Up!

All that's left now is throwing your kidney bean creation on top of a healthy serving of rice, dolloping a couple tablespoons of yogurt on top, and finally, garnishing with cilantro (if you like cilantro, that is - it's a classic Indian garnish). If you don't - throw something else (or nothing at all) on there.

From Two in a Kitchen, we say...enjoy!!

Recipe: Kidney Bean and Tomato Curry (reprinted from Vegetarian Times, July/August 2010)

ingredient list

Serves 1

2 tsp. vegetable oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped tomato
1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1/8 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. ground coriander
4 Tbs. plain low-fat yogurt, divided
3/4 cup cooked kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. lemon juice
Chopped cilantro for garnish, optional

Directions

1. Heat oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and cook 7 to 10 minutes, or until light brown. Stir in tomato, ginger, turmeric, and coriander. Cover, and cook 2 to 3 minutes, or until tomatoes are soft. Whisk in 2 Tbs. yogurt and 1/2 cup water. Stir in kidney beans, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 10 minutes.

2. Mash a few kidney beans in pan, then stir in garam masala and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Serve topped with remaining 2 Tbs. yogurt and garnished with cilantro, if using.

3. Serve warm, over rice.

View Comments

I love the whole idea of this

Submitted by looking for the cookie jar on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 17:46.

I love the whole idea of this recipe. It is such a healthy and yummy dish to plan for your menu. I think it would be a perfect thing to bring to a summer potluck.

One thing about beans is that they can really round out a recipe sometimes. Even when a person is used to eating meat at every meal, creating a bean and rice meal like this one, will often satisfy even the most devout meat eaters. I think the reason that this happens is that the flavors in this dish will have so many dimensions that it creates a satisfaction, or I think the correct word is satiety, not sure, but it the flavors are so diverse and textured that you feel satisfied, with eating less, and without eating meat.

Personally, I love Indian food. I love how Indian chefs combine yogurt with extremely flavorful and sometimes very hot spices in order to balance things out. I love the spices of curry and pepper too. When I am cooking an Indian dish, sometimes I try to use coconut oil, or even coconut shreds. I think that really gives many Indian dishes good flavor. When it comes to rice, I am a fan of instant rice though. I hate regular rice. I just find that it is not worth it to use regular rice unless you are making a stew or cooking the rice along with the meat and vegetables in your dish.

I have been lucky enough to find instant rice or quick cooking rice in many different varieties including regular white rice, brown rice and jasmine rice. I find that Jasmine rice is ideal for cooking with both Indian food and Thai food.

I also prefer using canned beans to regular ones. I mean soaking beans overnight is not that hard, and they do cook relatively fast. You do not have to watch them, but with canned beans, you just open the can. Nothing could be easier.

Another reason that I like this recipe is that it is cheap to make. When you feature something that is cheap and easy like beans as the main ingredient in your recipe, then you will not have to spend a lot of money on that meal.