Rajma Toast ~ Savory Bean Toast

Finally after a long break from this space I am back. The last couple of months have been so busy and hectic that I have hardly had the time to peek into this space let alone check through my emails and respond to the comments from my readers. If I've missed responding to your email, sorry for the delay, I have been playing catch up ever since I got back and hope to catch up on all my emails soon. Getting back into my routine after my unplanned break has been a strange and somewhat disorienting experience. The good part is, slowly but surely I am getting there and hope to be much more active in this space in the near future.

Getting back to the post, this rajma toast appears in my kitchen sometimes for weekend breakfast and sometimes as an evening snack. This is an adaptation of a recipe that I came across in a recipe book of snacks by Nita Mehta. It kind of reminds me of the baked beans on toast that my father in law loves so much, only I think of this as a quicker Indianized version of the same . This is a great way to start the day with some protein and nutrition. The bean mixture can be made a day or two ahead, so it doesn't take much time to assemble whenever you need it. And whenever I make this, whether for a weekend breakfast or as an evening snack, it never fails to perk up my day just a little bit :)

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Rajma / Bean Toast

1/2 cup dry red kidney beans (rajma)

1 small onion cut fine (pyaaz)

2 Thai or Indian variety green chilies ( hari mirch) ( or to taste)

1 clove garlic (lehsun)

1/2 tsp finely grated ginger (adrak)

Salt to taste (namak)

1 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro (coriander leaves/ hara dhania)

To assemble

Grated cheese as required (optional) ( use vegan cheese for a vegan version)

A little bit of butter/ clarified butter / oil to apply on the bread ( use oil for a vegan version, I prefer extra virgin olive oil )

Tomato ketchup as required (optional)

8 to 10 slices of multi grain bread ( or any other wheat or white bread)

Soak red kidney beans/ rajma in sufficient water overnight or for 7 to 8 hours. Discard the water the beans were soaked in, fill with 1 and 1/2 cups of fresh water and pressure cook on medium heat for a couple of whistles, then lower heat and cook on low heat for 25 minutes, then switch off the heat. This ensures the kidney bean/ rajma cooks very soft. Once the pressure subsides, remove kidney beans, mash coarsely with a potato masher and keep aside.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat, add onions, green chilies, garlic and ginger and sauté until onions turn translucent.

Add cooked red kidney beans and salt to taste and simmer for a few minutes until the mixture thickens a little and the flavors mingle. The mixture does not have to thicken too much, it thickens a little after cooling as well, so do keep that in mind when removing from heat. My picture below was taken a little early, use the picture of the bean mixture on the bread as a guide. Garnish with cilantro / dhania and keep aside to cool a little.

You can make this bean mixture a day or two ahead if you are planning this for a weekend breakfast and do not want to fuss with it in the morning.

Heat a flat pan / tawa / griddle on low to medium low heat. To assemble the toast, apply butter/ clarified butter/ ghee / oil to one side of a slice of bread. Spread a little of the bean mixture to the other side of the bread. If you want to apply a little ketchup, you can add a little on top and spread a little, then top with grated cheese and place on the tawa/ pan, cover with a lid and cook until the lower side of the bread is golden brown and the cheese has melted on top. Remove and serve hot with ketchup on the side.

Notes :

The ketchup on top of the toast is entirely optional, I've made this with and without the ketchup and both versions taste equally good.

Similarly the cheese is optional too, I've made it with and without the cheese and it tastes good both ways.

If you are looking for Bread snacks/ toasts/ breakfast recipes, here for a few more