Indian style mixed beans curry

This Indian bean curry is a delicious mixed beans curry made by cooking five types of beans in an onion-tomato gravy flavored with Indian spices. It's a vegan and gluten-free recipe.

Any Indian bean curry with rice is one of my favorite things to eat. It’s so comforting, filling, and nutritious that I make it regularly in my kitchen, especially on weekends. That’s the reason you will find so many bean curry recipes on my blog.

It’s really interesting to see how most of the beans used in the Indian bean curries traveled to India from other countries, many years back like Kidney beans (rajma) from Mexico, Chickpeas (chole) from the Middle East, and Black-eyed peas (Lobia) from Africa. But now they have become an integral part of Indian cuisine and one can't imagine any Indian kitchen without them.

Of all the bean curries, mixed beans curry is my favorite as I get to enjoy all the beans in one dish. I love it so much that my mother always makes sure to make it for me at least once whenever I visit her.

What's needed to make Indian mixed beans curry?

To make this bean curry, you will need the ingredients shown below:

Ingredient notes and substitute suggestions

• Mixed beans: I have used black chickpeas (whole Bengal gram), kidney beans, white chickpeas, black-eyed peas, and black lentils. You can use any combination of different beans depending on what's available to you. Though it tastes the best if you add all these five beans, you can make this bean curry with just three or four types of beans also. Try to use as many different types as you can. If you have more than five beans, you can use more too.
• Onion: Red onion is the best choice for Indian curries. White and brown onions don't give the same color and flavor to the curries.
• Tomato: Use a juicy red tomato.
• Whole spices: The most commonly used spices in this curry are cumin seeds, black cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon sticks, black peppercorns, and cloves. You may skip 1 or 2 of these spices if you don't have them all. However, don't skip cumin seeds and bay leaves.
• Kasoori methi: Kasoori methi is dried fenugreek leaves. You can buy it from the spice section of any Indian grocery store. It completely transforms the flavor of the dish it's added to. However, add it in moderation because if added in excess, the dish may turn bitter.
• Garam masala: It's a very flavorful blend of different powdered Indian spices. It has a very strong flavor so add it in moderation too otherwise, you won't taste any other ingredient in the recipe.
• Red chili powder: Use Kashmiri red chili powder. It will give a nice color to the curry and won't be very spicy too.
• Cooking oil: I prefer making this curry in mustard oil. You can also use canola or olive oil. Non-vegans may use ghee too.

How to make (step-by-step instructions)?

Step 1: Mix all the beans that you are using and wash well.

Step 2: Soak in water for at least 7 hours or overnight.

Step 3: Put the soaked beans, water, and some salt into a pressure cooker.

Step 4: Put on the lid of the pressure cooker and cook on a medium flame for 7-8 whistles of the pressure cooker or until the beans are nicely cooked.

Step 5: Allow the pressure of the pressure cooker to get released naturally and then open the lid.

Step 6: Mash some beans with the back side of the ladle. You may also take out a ladle full of cooked beans and make their paste in a grinder or food processor.

Step 7: Put roughly chopped onion, garlic, and ginger into a grinding jar and make a paste. Transfer the paste to a bowl and keep it aside.

Step 8: In the same grinding jar, put roughly chopped tomatoes and green chilies to make a separate paste. Keep it aside too.

Step 9: Heat oil in a cooking pot. Add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, cloves, black cardamom, and cumin seeds. Saute for a few seconds i.e. until the spices become fragrant.

Step 10: Add onion garlic paste.

Step 11: Cook until the onion paste turns golden brown. Add a few tablespoons of water to the pot whenever the onion paste starts sticking to the pot and cook further.

Step 12: Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, and roughly crushed kasoori methi. Saute for a few seconds.

Step 13: Add tomato paste and the remaining salt.

Step 14: Cook for 10-12 minutes or until the tomatoes are nicely cooked.

Step 15: Add cooked beans and cook on a medium flame for 5-6 minutes.

Step 16: Add garam masala, chopped cilantro, and lime juice. Mix.

Your delicious Indian-style mixed beans curry is ready to be enjoyed!

How to serve?

This bean curry can be served with rice as well as roti or any other Indian flatbread like naan or paratha.

To make a complete Indian meal using this curry, serve it with rice or roti, a vegetable dish like aloo gobhi, bhindi masala, or aloo baingan, an Indian salad like Kachumber salad or lachha pyaz, and a chutney like mint chutney or tomato chutney on the side.

Non-vegans may also include a raita like onion raita, beetroot raita, or cucumber raita to this meal.

You can also enjoy it as a hearty Indian mixed beans soup.

The leftover bean curry can be kneaded with some whole wheat flour, and fresh herbs to make a dough. Use this dough to make paratha (Indian flatbread).

Storing, freezing, and reheating tips

To be honest, in India, freezing food for later consumption is generally not practiced and is also considered bad for health.

However, in this fast world, the lifestyle of people has changed a lot. Many of my readers do batch cooking and then freeze their food. They keep on asking me questions about freezing recipes.

So, if you also freeze food then yes, you can freeze this beans curry too. To do that, let the curry reach room temperature and then put it in an airtight container before keeping it in the freezer. 

You can reheat it on the stovetop as well as in a microwave. While reheating, add more hot water to the curry to get the desired consistency.

Recipe tips and tricks

• Feel free to use a combination of beans that are available to you.
• If you don't have a pressure cooker or instant pot then you can also use a regular heavy-bottomed pot to make this dish. However, in a regular pot, the beans will take around 1:30 to 2 hours to get cooked.
• Powdered spices may get burned very easily. To avoid that you can mix them with 1-2 tablespoons of water and then add to the pot.
• You can remove the whole spices like bay leaf, black cardamom, and cinnamon stick before serving if you want.
•  The number of whistles required to cook the beans in a pressure cooker may vary depending on various factors like the capacity of the pressure cooker, the quality of beans that you are using, and even the altitude of the place where you are cooking. You may start with 6 whistles and if the beans are not cooked properly then cook for a few more whistles.

Frequently asked questions

More easy vegan and vegetarian bean curries

As mentioned above, I love beans and make curries with them at least once a week. If you also want to try them then don't miss to check the following recipes:

1. Rajma masala
2. Chickpea curry
3. Lobia
4. Black chickpea curry
5. Green mung bean curry
6. Dal Makhani
7. Black-eyed peas curry with spinach
8. Black bean curry
9. White bean curry