Sometimes when I am in a rush and still longing for an Indian dal, I take the simple way out and use canned beans—black, great northern, cannellini, or any other beans I like. Today we can get organic canned beans of excellent quality, and it barely takes 15 minutes to cook them. Even the liquid in the can tastes good, so I do not have to throw it away. Serve these with rice or Indian flatbreads.

Ingredients

　　2 tablespoons olive or canola oil

　　A generous pinch of ground asafetida

　　1/4 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

　　1/2 medium onion, cut into fine half rings

　　4 cherry tomatoes, quartered

　　1/8–1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

　　1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

　　One 15-ounce can of black, great northern, cannellini, or any other beans, preferably organic

　　About 1/2 teaspoon salt, as needed

　　Pour the oil into a small pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the asafetida and cumin. Let the cumin seeds sizzle for 5 seconds. Add the onions and turn heat to medium. Stir and cook the onions until they have browned a bit. Add the tomatoes and stir a few times. Now add the cayenne and turmeric. Stir once or twice and add the contents of the can (beans and liquid, if organic, otherwise just the beans and the same amount of water as liquid) as well as about 4 tablespoons water. Stir and bring to a simmer. Cover, turn heat to low, and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add as much salt as needed.

　　Excerpted from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka by Madhur Jaffrey. Copyright © 2010 by Random House. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Buy the full book from Amazon.