Rajmah Shalgum (Turnips and Kidney Beans)

I really like this curry. The tomato and spices give it a deeply satisfying savouriness. I served it up along side a few other curries, but it's hearty enough to stand on its own if you only want to worry about making a single dish for dinner. All that being said, I do question the cooking instructions. Iyer instructs to cut the turnips into 1" cubes and cook them for only 15-20 minutes. He claims that they should be "fork tender" by this point. My turnips were still rock hard. Even after an extra half hour of cooking, they still were more "al dente" than tender.

I ended up making another curry involving turnips shortly after this one. In that one he also advises cutting the turnips into 1" cubes and simmering for 15-20 minutes. Although, that recipe also calls for a few minutes of stir-frying before the simmering. After my experience with this recipe, I opted to cut the turnips for the next recipe into 1cm cubes rather than 1". Even with the smaller size and the stir-frying, 20 minutes did not seem like enough to get the turnips sufficiently tender. I think, in the future, I'd keep the smaller cube size but also plan to simmer them for at least half an hour. I don't know, maybe I was using a different kind of turnip than Iyer. But my turnips certainly weren't cooking fully in the times he was recommending!

Rajmah Shalgum

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 4 black cardamom pods
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 2 tsp. fennel seeds, ground
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1/2-1 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies¹
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 4 c. water, divided
• 3 c. cooked kidney beans²
• 4 small turnips, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 6 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro, divided

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion, ginger paste, garlic paste, and cardamom pods and stir-fry for 15 minutes.
3. Add the tomato paste, fennel, cumin, coriander, chilies, and turmeric and stir to combine.
4. Add 1 c. of the water and deglaze the pan.
5. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
6. Add another 1 c. of water and simmer, covered, for a further 8 minutes.
7. Add the remaining 2 c. of water along with the kidney beans, turnips, salt, and 1/4 c. of the cilantro.
8. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer vigorously, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for ~30 minutes.
9. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 Tbsp. of cilantro and serve.

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¹ Or substitute 1/4 tsp. ground cayenne + 3/4 tsp. sweet paprika ^Back
2 Use tinned beans if you're in a hurry or get a few dried beans cooking in advance. If you're cooking your beans on the stovetop, it's best to give them an overnight soak first. If you're using a pressure cooker, you can get away without the soaking: Place 1 c. of dried beans in a pressure cooker/InstantPot along with 3 1/2 c. of water, stock, or a mix thereof and cook (on high pressure) for 40 minutes with a 15-minute natural release. Release any remaining pressure, drain, and your beans are ready to go! ^Back