Name: Bhatt ki churkani
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Kumaoni
Ingredients: 1 cup Mist Orchard black bhatt; 2 tbsp rice flour (or wheat flour); 2 tbsp mustard oil; 1 tsp jakhiya, or cumin seeds; A pinch of hing; 2 dried red chillies; 4 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 inch ginger, grated; ½ tsp turmeric; 1 tsp coriander powder; Salt to taste; 1 tbsp Mist Orchard pahadi ghee, to finish; Fresh coriander, chopped

Bhatt ki churkaniThe Kumaoni black soybean gravy, roasted first in an iron kadhai and simmered thick. Eaten with plain rice, and nothing else is needed.Ingredients

1 cup Mist Orchard black bhatt

2 tbsp rice flour (or wheat flour)

2 tbsp mustard oil

1 tsp jakhiya, or cumin seeds

A pinch of hing

2 dried red chillies

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 inch ginger, grated

½ tsp turmeric

1 tsp coriander powder

Salt to taste

1 tbsp Mist Orchard pahadi ghee, to finish

Fresh coriander, chopped

MethodPick over the bhatt for stones and wipe it with a dry cloth. Do not soak it.Dry-roast the bhatt in an iron kadhai on a medium flame, stirring all the time, until the beans crackle and some split — 8 to 10 minutes. Tip them out onto a plate.Heat the mustard oil in the same kadhai until it just smokes, then turn the flame down. Add the jakhiya, red chillies and hing.Add the garlic and ginger and fry until the garlic turns golden.Put the roasted bhatt back in with the turmeric and coriander powder, and stir for a minute.Whisk the rice flour into a cup of water until smooth, and pour it in with three more cups of water and the salt.Bring it to the boil, cover, and simmer on a low flame for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring now and then, until the beans are soft and the gravy is thick. Add a splash of hot water if it catches.Finish with the ghee and the coriander, and serve hot with steamed rice.Churkani is what bhatt is grown for. Every house in the hills makes it a little differently, but it always starts the same way: the beans roasted dry until they crackle, then cooked down in a thickened gravy until they are soft right through.## The kadhai mattersCooked in an iron kadhai, churkani turns almost black. That is the iron, and it is how it is meant to look. A steel pan works too — the gravy will be browner and the taste the same.## Rice flour, not cornflourThe gravy is thickened with a little rice flour, which gives it body without turning it gluey. Wheat flour works if that is what you have.Please turn on JavaScript to shop.