Tip of the Week: Vol 1: How to cook Chickpeas/Kabuli Chana or Kidney Beans/Rajma faster without soaking?

I never plan my meals in advance! No, seriously! I am more like ‘feel like eating, cook that‘ kind of person. So, when I crave for making some beans like Chana or Rajma, I usually face a hard time cooking them. You cannot just throw them in pressure cooker & cook, it will never cook through, especially Rajma. These hard beans need a minimum of 8-9 hours of soaking, which means planning ahead of time. Well, not anymore, I am sharing a quick tip with you that will bring the soaking time of these beans to 1 hour max!

So what you need to do is, wash your beans as usual, & put them in pressure cooker with ample of water. Add in some baking soda. Do not add salt or any other spice! Cover the pressure cooker lid & turn off the gas just before it is about to whistle. Do not wait for the pressure cooker to whistle, turn off the gas immediately before that. What exactly we are doing is holding the pressure back in the cooker & not letting it vent out. Let it stand for exactly 1 hour, before opening the lid. And voila, you will have beans looking like they have been soaked overnight. Now they are ready to cook as per the recipe!