Kidney Bean Curry - South Indian Style - cooking recipe

Ingredients

4 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon split white Urad Dal
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1 dried red chili, halved
1/4 teaspoon hing
1 onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 serrano chilies, minced
2 tomatoes, diced
15 ounces kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
salt, as needed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Preparation

In a large frying pan put the oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds and dried red chili and heat over high heat until the mustard seeds have popped for about 10 seconds AND the dal is light brown.
Quickly stir in the hing and onion. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium and stir in the green bell peppers and cook another 3-4 minutes.
Add the minced serrano chilies (less if you don't want it too hot) and after 2 minutes, add the tomatoes. If your tomatoes aren't very juicy or ripe, you can add some tomato sauce to give the curry a good tomato flavor. {I usually keep some tomato sauce in a plastic bag in the freezer and just cut off what I need for something like this.] Cook 3 more minutes, adding a bit of water if the curry gets too dry.
Add the kidney beans (and water as needed) and cook another 1-2 minutes until everything has married.
Stir in the the turmeric, curry powder, garam masala (optional) and salt. Check to adjust spices.
Turn off heat and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.
This curry actually tastes best if made earlier in the day and allowed to sit for several hours.
Can be eaten with either plain boiled rice or Indian bread. A raita along side would also be nice.