Kwati

Ingredients

The nine beans

• 500 gmixed dried beans
• black gram, green gram
• chickpea, field bean, soybean
• cowpea, garden pea
• rice bean, kidney bean
• water, for soaking and sprouting

The pot

• 2onions, chopped
• 6garlic cloves, crushed
• 4cm ginger, grated
• 2tomatoes, chopped
• 4 tablespoonsmustard oil
• or any oil
• 1 teaspoonturmeric
• 2 teaspoonsground cumin
• 1 teaspoonground coriander
• 1 teaspoonjimbu, optional
• 1 teaspoonajwain
• 1dried chilli
• 2bay leaves
• salt
• about 2 litres water

To finish

• 1 teaspoongaram masala
• a handful of coriander leaf
• juice of 1 lemon

To serve

• rice
• at Janai Purnima
• in the monsoon

Directions

1. Boil the beans hard before any slow cooking. Sprouts grow in warm damp conditions. Rinse the sprouting beans twice a day. Use clean water and clean containers. Discard the batch if it smells off or slimy. Ready-mixed kwati beans are sold in Nepal. Rinse all the beans thoroughly. Pick out any stones or damaged beans.
2. Put them into a large clean bowl. Cover them with plenty of cold water. Leave them all to soak overnight. Use far more water than you think. They should stay covered throughout. Drain the soaked beans thoroughly. Rinse them once in fresh cold water.
3. Put them in a clean container. It must allow air and drainage. Tie the drained beans in a damp cloth. Hang the bundle somewhere warm. Keep the cloth damp throughout. Rinse the beans twice every day. Drain them thoroughly each time.
4. Return them to the cloth or container. Rinsing keeps them clean and damp. Warm weather sprouts them faster. Stop while the shoots are short. Put the sprouted beans in a large pot.
5. Cover them well with fresh water. Bring the pot up to a full boil. Let it boil hard for a good fifteen minutes. Ten minutes at a rolling boil is the minimum. Skim off any of the foam that rises. Drain the beans after the hard boil.
6. Rinse them all in fresh cold water. Some cooks keep the water instead. Heat the mustard oil in a large pot. Heat it until it just begins to smoke. That takes off its raw sharpness.
7. Add the ajwain and the dried chilli. Add the jimbu in if you have it. Fry them for about thirty seconds. Add the chopped onions to the pot. Cook them for a good ten minutes. Add the garlic and the grated ginger. Cook them for two more minutes. Add the turmeric, cumin and coriander.
8. Fry them for thirty seconds only. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pot. Cook them down for about eight minutes. Add the boiled sprouted beans. Add the bay leaves and the salt. Add water to cover them all well. Bring the pot up to a full boil. Cover the pot and let it cook on. Give it at least ninety minutes.
9. Cook it on until those are soft. It should be thick rather than watery. Add hot water if it is too thick. Simmer it uncovered if it is too thin. Add the garam masala to the pot. Squeeze in all of the lemon juice. Scatter chopped coriander over it.
10. Taste it and adjust the salt as needed. Serving it is always done piping hot. Ladle it out into deep warm bowls. Serve plain rice alongside it. It keeps four days refrigerated.

Technique

• Red kidney beans contain phytohaemagglutinin, a lectin causing severe sickness, and sprouting does not remove it; sprouted kidney beans still need a hard rolling boil of at least ten minutes, fifteen for margin. A slow simmer is not enough and low heat can even increase the toxicity, so a slow cooker is particularly dangerous with them.
• Sprouts grow in warm damp conditions and so do bacteria, so rinse the sprouting beans twice a day in clean water, drain them thoroughly each time, and discard the batch entirely if it smells off or turns slimy.
• Kwa means nine and ti means soup in Newari, and the nine beans vary between households; they are very different in size and sprout and cook at different rates, with the largest needing the longest at both stages, and that unevenness is part of the dish.

Substitutions

• Ready-mixed kwati beans are sold in Nepal and in Nepali shops abroad.
• Any oil stands in for mustard oil, though it is the traditional choice.

Variations

• Some households add meat or bone to the pot alongside the beans.
• Jimbu, the dried Himalayan wild allium, is used where it can be had.
• The exact nine beans differ from household to household.

History

Cooked for Janai Purnima in the monsoon month of Shrawan; the sprouted mixed beans were believed to strengthen the body against damp-season illness.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kwati?

Kwati is a soup & stew from Nepal: soup of nine sprouted beans, eaten once a year at the Janai Purnima full moon. Cooked for Janai Purnima in the monsoon month of Shrawan; the sprouted mixed beans were believed to strengthen the body against damp-season illness.

How long does Kwati take to make?

Kwati takes 20 minutes plus 3 days sprouting of preparation and 2 hours of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Kwati?

Yes, within limits. Ready-mixed kwati beans are sold in Nepal and in Nepali shops abroad. Any oil stands in for mustard oil, though it is the traditional choice.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kwati?

Put them in a clean container. It must allow air and drainage. Tie the drained beans in a damp cloth. Hang the bundle somewhere warm. Keep the cloth damp throughout. Rinse the beans twice every day. Drain them thoroughly each time.