How upliance makes rajma, step by step
- upliance, upliance
This cooks it.
- CHOP
- SAUTÉ
- PURÉE
- STIR
What is it?
upliance is a steel jar on a smart base with a touchscreen. It weighs, chops, sautés, purées, stirs and cooks, and the screen tells you what to drop in next. The rajma is soaked and pressure-cooked outside the jar; the whole masala and the long simmer happen in it. Scroll to watch it make rajma from above.
- You, 1 min
Soak rajma overnight
Why?
Plan ahead: rinse 100 g of dried rajma and leave it in a bowl with 400 ml of water overnight (at least 6–8 hours). A minute of work, but it has to happen the night before. Soaked rajma cooks soft and creamy all the way through.
- You, 3 min
Pressure-cook the rajma
Not in the jar?
Not this bit. Drain and rinse the soaked rajma, then put it in a pressure cooker with 200 ml of fresh water, ½ tsp salt and 2 black cardamoms. Cook on low heat for 5 whistles (about 20–25 minutes), then let the pressure drop. Keep the cooking water: it goes into the jar with the rajma. Start the jar while the cooker whistles.
- You, 8 min
Peel onions, halve tomatoes
How rough?
Peel 2 onions and cut each in 4. Peel 10 garlic cloves (the slowest bit) and a 5 g piece of ginger. Pull the stem off 1 green chilli. Halve 2 tomatoes. Fine-chop 5 coriander stems for the end. The fine chopping of the onion masala is the jar's job, not yours.
- You, 15 s
Drop 1 of 4
What goes in
2 tbsp refined oil, ½ tsp jeera and ¼ tsp hing, straight into the empty jar.
upliance, 30 sSizzles the jeera
Why first?
The tadka. With the crown off, upliance warms the oil and stirs the jeera and hing till they crackle and smell toasty, all in about 30 seconds.
- You, 30 s
Drop 2 of 4
What goes in
2 onions cut in 4, 1 green chilli, 10 garlic cloves and 5 g ginger, on top of the tadka. upliance weighs each one as it lands. Lid and crown on.
upliance, 10 sChops it fine
No knife?
No knife, no onion tears. With the lid and crown on, the blade turns the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli into fine confetti in about 10 seconds. Scrape the sides down once it stops.
upliance, 3 minSautés till golden
Till when?
Crown off so the moisture escapes. upliance sautés the chopped onion masala for about 3 minutes, stirring by itself, till it turns golden and loses its raw smell.
- You, 1 min
Drop 3 of 4
What goes in
2 tomatoes cut in half, plus the spices: turmeric ¼ tsp, amchur ¼ tsp, jeera powder ¼ tsp, rajma masala 1¼ tbsp, garam masala 1¼ tsp, chole masala 1¼ tbsp and salt ¾ tsp. Pop the crown back on.
upliance, 7 minCooks, then purées
Then?
upliance cooks the tomatoes and spices down for 7 minutes, then blitzes everything into a smooth, dark masala in the same jar. Scrape the sides down when it stops. If the cooker isn't done yet, the masala can wait in the jar.
- You, 30 s
Drop 4 of 4
What goes in
All the pressure-cooked rajma, with the water it cooked in. That starchy water is what makes the gravy thick and creamy.
- upliance, 35 min
Cooks down, stirs itself
35MIN FREEleave the kitchenWhat's the jar doing?
With the crown off, upliance simmers the rajma in the masala for about 35 minutes, stirring slowly the whole time so nothing catches, till the gravy thickens and the beans turn creamy. Put the rice on, take a call, fold the laundry.
- You, 1 min
Ghee, coriander. Serve.
Finish
Spoon the rajma into a bowl, pour 1 tbsp of ghee over the top and scatter the chopped coriander. Rajma chawal: eat it hot with steamed rice, or with roti.































