Across the highlands · 45 min hands-on · 8,1 h waiting · Vegan · Main course · For beginners
Bhatt Ki Churkani
In German: Schwarze-Sojabohnen-Suppe aus Kumaon
For 4 servings · US units
Black soybeans from Kumaon, toasted until they crackle, then simmered thick and dark
Bhatt Ki Churkani is a traditional bean curry from Kumaoni cooking in Uttarakhand: black soybeans are toasted with flour and spices, then cooked down into a thick sauce that turns almost black in an iron kadai. It comes to the table with rice, a radish salad called Mooli ki Thechwani and hemp seed chutney, and it's exactly what you want on your plate on a cold winter evening.
Ingredients
- 6⅓ ozwashed, soaked overnight and drainedCaution: Soybeans are indigestible raw and must be cooked thoroughly before eating.Dried soybeans with a black skin and usually a greenish interior, known in the Himalaya as bhatt, nutty, earthy and firmer than most beans.Substitute: Yellow soybeans come closest in bite and cooking time, but they are milder and less earthy, and the dish loses its dark colour. Latin American black beans are not an equivalent substitute, as they turn softer and starchier and lack the nutty soy flavour.Read more
- 2 tbspor neutral oil; for fryingCaution: Because of its erucic acid content, some mustard oil is labelled for external use only, so for cooking use only oil that is explicitly sold as edible.Cold-pressed oil from brown or yellow mustard seeds, golden to amber, with a sharp, pungent smell.Substitute: Rapeseed or canola oil comes from the same plant family and works as a base; a little mustard powder or freshly ground brown mustard seed brings back some of the heat. The characteristic pungent bite and full aroma, especially in pickles, cannot be matched this way.Read more
- 1 tbspFlourfor thickening, toasted with the beans
- ½ tspCumin seedssizzled in hot oil
- 1Onionmedium, chopped
- 1 tspGround coriander
- 1 tspTurmeric
- 1 tspGround cumin
- ½ tspChili powder
- Saltto taste
- 4¼ cupsWaterwarm, for simmering
- 5 clovesGarliccrushed, fried golden in the oil (optional)
- fresh corianderfor garnish (optional)
- 1 tbspstirred in at the end (optional)Clarified butter, cooked until the water and milk solids separate out; nutty and suited to high heat.Substitute: Clarified butter replaces ghee readily, though it tastes milder. To make ghee yourself, simmer unsalted butter gently until the milk solids on the bottom turn light brown, then strain.Read more
Method
- Soak the beansRinse the black soybeans well, leave them to soak overnight in plenty of water, and drain them thoroughly the next day.
- Sizzle the cumin in oilHeat the mustard oil in a heavy pot or kadai, ideally an iron one, since that's what gives the sauce its deep, dark colour later on. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle briefly until fragrant. If you're using garlic, fry the crushed cloves in the oil now until golden.
- Fry the onion and beansAdd the chopped onion and the drained beans and fry, stirring, until the beans start to crackle and the onion has turned brown.
- Toast the flourSprinkle the flour over the beans and keep stirring for a few minutes, until it has toasted to a light brown.
- Stir in the ground spicesAdd the ground coriander, turmeric, ground cumin and red chili powder and stir them in just briefly, long enough to release their aroma but not so long that they burn.
- Add the waterPour in the warm water, stir well to loosen everything that has toasted onto the bottom of the pan, and bring it to a boil.
- Simmer thick and darkTurn down the heat and let the curry simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then. It's ready when the beans are tender and the sauce has turned thick and dark.
- Season and finishSeason with salt. If you like, stir in the ghee at the end and scatter over some fresh coriander.
- Serve with riceServe the Bhatt Ki Churkani hot with steamed rice.
Tips and variations
There are plenty of ways to make it. Some cooks leave out the onion and use garlic and wild mustard seeds in the mustard oil instead, fry the beans unsoaked in an iron kadai and finish the whole thing with ghee. Others cook the beans until soft in a pressure cooker first, season with green chilies and asafoetida, and only stir in the flour at the end as a slurry, if at all. You can also fry in ghee instead of oil, or thicken with rice paste instead of wheat flour; leave out the ghee and the dish stays vegan. It really comes together when you put radish salad (Mooli ki Thechwani) and hemp seed chutney on the table alongside the rice.
Allergens
Contains: Cereals containing gluten, Mustard, Soybeans
May contain if you use the optional ingredients: Milk (including lactose)
These notes follow from this recipe's ingredient list. Ready-made products and brands may contain further allergens — please check the packaging yourself.
Something not right?
This recipe was put together from independent sources and checked before publishing. Even so, a mistake can slip through — an amount that does not add up, a step that does not work as written. If you spot something, write to us: we will look into it and put it right.
