Bhatt Ki Churkani

Before you start

• Soak the beans overnight. If you have actual bhatt, dry roast them in a heavy pan for 5 minutes until they crackle and smell toasted, then cook them unsoaked.
• Whisk the rice flour into 150ml cold water and leave it aside. Added dry to a hot pan it lumps immediately.
• This is a mustard oil dish through and through - a neutral oil version tastes of nothing much.

Method

1. Heat 2 tbsp mustard oil in a heavy pan until it smokes, then cool it 20 seconds. Add the drained beans and roast them on medium for 6 to 7 minutes, stirring, until the skins wrinkle and blister.This roast is where the smokiness comes from. Take it to the point where the pan smells nutty, just short of burnt.
2. Transfer the beans to a pressure cooker with 800ml water and 1 tsp salt. Cook for 6 whistles and let the pressure fall naturally.
3. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp mustard oil in a kadhai to smoking, then cool briefly. Crackle the cumin and fenugreek seeds and the broken red chillies, 20 seconds.Fenugreek goes bitter fast. Pull it off the heat the moment it browns.
4. Add the asafoetida, then the crushed garlic, and fry 1 minute to pale gold.
5. Stir in the ginger and green chillies, then the turmeric, coriander powder and chilli powder. Fry 30 seconds.
6. Tip in the cooked beans with all their liquid and bring to a boil.
7. Stir the rice flour slurry once more and pour it in slowly while stirring hard. The gravy will thicken visibly within a minute.Pour in a thin stream and keep the spoon moving, or you will be picking out lumps for the next ten minutes.
8. Simmer uncovered on low for 15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until the gravy turns glossy and dark and coats a spoon thickly.
9. Check the salt, scatter over the coriander leaves and serve with plain rice and a spoon of raw mustard oil on top if you like it sharp.

Storage

Keeps 3 days refrigerated and sets almost solid as it cools. Reheat on low with 100ml water, whisking to bring the thickened gravy back together.