Pinto bean curry

Pinto bean curry is a hearty and flavorful dish made by cooking pinto beans in a delicious onion-tomato curry sauce seasoned with Indian spices. This instant pot recipe can also be prepared in a regular pressure cooker or cooking pot. It's a vegan and gluten-free dish.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian, North Indian

Diet Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 50

Bean soaking time 7

Total Time 1

Servings

Calories 205kcal

Author Vandana Chauhan

Equipment

Instant pot
1 ladle
Knife and chopping board

Ingredients

1 cup dried pinto beans
1 medium red onion very finely chopped
2 medium red tomatoes very finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves minced
2 green chilies finely chopped
¼ cup fresh cilantro finely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon Kasoori methi
3 cups hot water

Instructions

Rinse pinto beans and soak in water for 8 hours or overnight.
Switch on the instant pot and select saute mode for 15 minutes.
Add cooking oil and heat it for 1-2 minutes.
Add cumin seeds and bay leaf. Saute for a few seconds i.e. until the spices become fragrant.
Add finely chopped onion and minced garlic. Cook until the onion starts turning brown.
Add chopped tomatoes, green chilies, red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, ground black pepper, and salt.
Mix everything and cook until the tomatoes are cooked well and turn mushy.
Drain the soaked beans and add to the instant pot.
Saute beans for 1-2 minutes.
Add 3 cups of hot water and mix.
Seal the lid of the instant pot. Cook on high pressure for 30 minutes.
Allow the pressure to get released naturally then open the lid.
Stir the bean curry.
Add garam masala, crushed kasoori methi, and chopped cilantro. Mix.

Video

Notes

Feel free to use different varieties of beans like red kidney beans, black beans, chickpeas, white beans, etc, and follow this recipe to make a bean curry of your choice. Different beans can be mixed too to make mixed bean curry.
To shorten the time of soaking beans, soak them in hot water.
Don't skip the step of soaking beans. Though the unsoaked beans also get cooked, they will take more time to get cooked and won't get digested easily.
If after opening the lid, you feel that there is too much liquid left in the curry, turn on the saute mode again and cook until the curry thickens.
Kashmiri red chili powder is the best for this dish as it's not very spicy but adds a bright red color to the curry. If you don't have it, use any other red chili powder that you have.
To get the right consistency of the curry sauce, chop the onions into very fine pieces. You can also make a paste of onion and use that in the dish.
Don't use chopped tomatoes in the sauce. Either make a tomato paste or grate them. We don't want tomato chunks in this curry.
More recipe tips, tricks, variation suggestions are shared in the post above, please follow them to make this recipe.

Nutrition