Instant pot rajma or red kidney beans with Indian spices and vegetables like potatoes and sweet potatoes is so delicious, simple, nutritious and super easy to make in the instant pot. This rajma masala or rajma curry with veggies go great with cooke white rice or brown rice or Indian breads like chapathi, naan, poori etc.
The addition of potatoes and sweet potatoes help the curry to naturally thicken with a lot of delicious flavors!
The sweet potatoes will be very soft cooked and will just melt into the gravy making it so delicious and flavorful.
What Is Rajma?
Rajma is simply red kidney beans.
In India, rajma refers to a very popular Punjabi style cooked kidney beans with a tomato and onion based masala with spices. That is very delicious and goes great with rice & breads.
However, this rajma curry is different since we do not use the tomato onion based masala in this recipe.
We use potatoes and sweet potatoes along with Indian spices to make delicious soft cooked rajma curry which too goes great with rice & breads!
And this rajma curry is even more easy to make, especially in the instant pot.
Rajma or red kidney beans is available in two varieties – dark red kidney beans and light red kidney beans.
I used light red kidney beans in this recipe. Also I used dried red kidney beans (not canned) for this recipe to make the rajma curry.
Should You Soak Rajma/Red Kidney Beans?
I prefer soaking rajma or red kidney beans prior to cooking and discard the water used for soaking the raw dried beans.
This is because, rajma or red kidney beans is somewhat toxic when it is raw and it is always recommended to soak the rajma for several hours prior to cooking.
Then discard the water used for soaking the beans and also rinse the soaked beans in fresh water very well before you use them for cooking.
Also, soaking the beans prior to cooking helps the beans to cook really soft which makes this dish more delicious.
How To Make Instant Pot Rajma With Sweet Potatoes?
Main Ingredients Used In This Recipe:
The main ingredients used to make this rajma curry are soaked rajma (red kidney beans) and also potatoes & sweet potatoes.
The potatoes and sweet potatoes need to be diced into cubes before using in the recipe!
However, we need more ingredients to make the rajma in the instant pot and here you can see all the ingredients used to make the red kidney beans curry in the instant pot.
Ingredients to make instant pot rajma
dry red kidney beans (rajma beans) 2 cups (I used light red kidney beans)
salt as needed
water 4 cups (plus more water for soaking the beans)
sweet potatoes 2 medium sized (diced into cubes)
potatoes 3 medium sized (diced into cubes)
tamarind paste 1 teaspoon (or use same amount of tomato paste or use 2 tablespoons of any tomato based sauce)
thick coconut milk ½ cup (or use heavy cream)
oil 2 tablespoons
spices:
onion powder 1 teaspoon
garlic powder 2 teaspoons (or use 2 fresh garlic cloves crushed)
turmeric powder ½ teaspoon
red chili powder or paprika ½ teaspoon (optional)
coriander powder 2 teaspoons
curry powder 2 teaspoons (or garam masala)
For seasoning (optional):
oil 1 tablespoon
mustard seeds or cumin seeds ½ teaspoon
red chilies dried 1 or 2 broken
minced onions or shallots 1 tablespoon
Step by step instructions
Wash the beans very well and soak in enough water overnight or for about 10 to 12 hours.
Once soaked for enough time, discard the water used for soaking the beans and rinse the beans thoroughly in water for 2 to 3 times more.
Transfer the soaked and washed beans to the instant pot.
Add the diced potatoes and sweet potatoes also to the instant pot.
Add the water, salt, spices and tamarind (or tomato paste or tomato based sauce) also to the instant pot, stir everything well.
Close the instant pot with lid in sealing position, press ‘pressure cook’ button and set the timer for 30 minutes to cook the beans in high pressure.
Keep in mind that since there is a good amount of contents in the pot, it will take some time to come to pressure (about 15 minutes).
Once the cooking is done, press the cancel button and wait for a natural pressure release.
You may do a careful, controlled and gradual manual pressure relase after about 15 minutes of natural pressure release, if you want to make it faster.
Once the pressure is all released, carefully open the lid of the instant pot, stir the contents (the sweet potatoes will be cooked very soft and it will melt in with the gravy).
Add the 2 tablespoons of oil and coconut milk, stir in.
Press saute button and simmer the contents for a couple of minutes so the coconut milk will blend in with the curry.
Now the curry is prepared, transfer it from the hot instant pot to a cool place so it won’t cook further.
Now you can prepare the seasoning too, if you wish to add the seasoning!
To make the seasoning (optional):
Heat the one tablespoon of oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds (or cumin seeds).
Once the mustard seeds splutter (if using cumin seeds, they just need to lightly brown), add the broken dried chilies and also the minced onions.
Once the minced onions are lightly fried, the seasoning is ready to be used!
Pour this prepared seasoning over the prepared red kidney beans curry (rajma curry).
Stir in the seasoning with the curry gently, serve the delicious rajma curry with cooked white basmati rice or brown rice (any rice of your choice) or with Indian flatbreads like chapathi, poori, naan bread etc as you wish!
You can also garnish the prepared rajma curry with chopped fresh cilantro leaves (about one to two tablespoons will be enough) if you have it!
Can You Make Rajma On Stove Top?
Yes, you can make rajma on stove top as well using a pressure cooker.
Just make sure to soak the beans for several hours prior to cooking, rinse the beans again in fresh water and cook in a regular pressure cooker.
I have made this rajma with potatoes and carrots on stove top using a pressure cooker, the recipe for which is quite similar to this rajma with potatoes & sweet potatoes.
Also I have this kidney beans with butternut squash recipe which is also prepared on stove top using a pressure cooker and which is also very delicious!
More Instant Pot Beans Recipes:
instant pot chickpeas (garbanzo beans) no soak
instant pot soaked chickpeas recipe
easy instant pot chickpea curry
instant pot black bean spinach curry
instant pot black beans with soaked beans
Below you can get the recipe for instant pot rajma with potatoes and sweet potatoes in detail.
Instant Pot Rajma (Red Kidney Beans) With Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 cups dry red kidney beans rajma beans (I used light red kidney beans)
- salt as needed
- 4 cups water plus more water for soaking the beans
- 2 medium sized sweet potatoes diced into cubes
- 3 medium sized potatoes diced into cubes
- 1 teaspoon tamarind paste or use same amount of tomato paste or use 2 tablespoons of any tomato based sauce
- ½ cup thick coconut milk or use heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons oil
spices:
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder or use 2 fresh garlic cloves crushed
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder or paprika optional
- 2 teaspoons coriander powder
- 2 teaspoons curry powder or garam masala
For seasoning (optional):
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds or cumin seeds
- 2 red chilies dried broken
- 1 tablespoon minced onions or shallots
Instructions
- Wash the beans very well and soak in enough water overnight or for about 10 to 12 hours.
- Once soaked for enough time, discard the water used for soaking the beans and rinse the beans thoroughly in water for 2 to 3 times more.
- Transfer the soaked and washed beans to the instant pot.
- Add the diced potatoes and sweet potatoes also to the instant pot.
- Add the water, salt, spices and tamarind (or tomato paste or tomato based sauce) also to the instant pot, stir everything well.
- Close the instant pot with lid in sealing position, press 'pressure cook' button and set the timer for 30 minutes to cook the beans in high pressure. Once the cooking is done, press the cancel button and wait for a natural pressure release.You may do a careful, controlled and gradual manual pressure relase after about 15 minutes of natural pressure release, if you want to make it faster.Once the pressure is all released, carefully open the lid of the instant pot, stir the contents (the sweet potatoes will be cooked very soft and it will melt in with the gravy).
- Add the 2 tablespoons of oil and coconut milk, stir in.
- Press saute button and simmer the contents for a couple of minutes so the coconut milk will blend in with the curry. Now the curry is prepared, transfer it from the hot instant pot to a cool place so it won't cook further.Now you can prepare the seasoning too, if you wish to add the seasoning!
To make the seasoning (optional):
- Heat the one tablespoon of oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds (or cumin seeds).Once the mustard seeds splutter (if using cumin seeds, they just need to lightly brown), add the broken dried chilies and also the minced onions.
- Once the minced onions are lightly fried, pour this prepared seasoning over the prepared red kidney beans curry (rajma curry).
- Stir in the seasoning with the curry gently, serve the delicious rajma curry with cooked white basmati rice or brown rice (any rice of your choice) or with Indian flatbreads like chapathi, poori, naan bread etc as you wish!
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