Kwati

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a very good holiday. I sure did!

Since it is very cold today here in Twin Cities, I thought of writing about one of my favorite wintry dish from Nepal. It is called Kwati and basically a hearty dish made out of 9 different types of beans. So without further ado, let’s get started!

Just a FYI, this recipe requires a pressure cooker.

You will need:

1. 1/2 bag of 9 or 12 beans mix
2. 1 medium onion chopped
3. 1 tablespoon of ginger/paste
4. Few bay leaves
5. Dry red chillies
6. 1 tea spoon of panch phoron
7. 1 tomato
8. Few table spoons of tomato paste
9. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
10. 1 big teaspoon of cumin powder
11. Salt
12. Red chilli powder
13. Oil

Soak the bean mix overnight.

Heat oil in pressure cooker without the lid.  Add bay leaves, red chillies and panch phoran. Add the chopped onions and cook it until the onions are golden brown. Add the ginger-garlic paste and  spices (cumin, chillies and turmeric). Add a pinch of coriander powder if you have. Cook it for few more seconds. Make sure that you are stirring the mix constantly. It is very easy for the mix to stick to the cooker.

Add the chopped tomatoes and finally the tomato paste. Cook the mix with tomatoes for a minute. Add soaked beans to the tomato mix. Add a pinch of salt. Cook it again for few more minutes.

Finally 3 cups of water, stir the mix and put the lid back on the cooker. Let it cook until you hear the first 2 whistle! Open the lid only after you let the pressure out of the cooker completely.

Serve warm alone or with a pita bread! Hope you enjoy the soup as much as I do 🙂