Bhatt ki Dal Ka Phaanu: A Creamy Mountain Lunch
Sanskriti Bist learns to make ‘phaanu,’ a creamy lentil preparation native to the hills of Uttarakhand.
One morning, when I opened my mother’s pantry cabinet to cook up lunch, I discovered an unfamiliar lentil, dark and glistening. As it turns out, this was the black soya bean. A legume native to China, it travelled to India though the mountains of the north, and anyone from Uttarakhand would have immediately identified it as ‘bhatt.’ And though I belong to the state myself, (never having lived here except for the occasional vacation, and now, pandemic), I am ashamed to say my first instinct was to ferment it for a Chinese black bean sauce.
But a little guilt and introspection led me to decide instead, that learning what my ancestors made with bhatt, would do me more than a little good. Uttarakhand’s harsh mountain climate has always favoured the iron-rich and protein-filled nutrients in bhatt, providing strength as well as sustenance. A seasonal lentil harvested during the end of November, much of my parents’ childhood memories are anchored around roasting bhatt on an open flame through the frosty Dehradun winters.
My mother simplifies things for me, with a quick instruction — whenever you want to make Garhwali food, you take any lentil and make a ‘phaanu’ out of it. So this is what I did. Phaanu serves an indispensable role in our cuisine. It is essentially a dish that is made out of the paste of any dal, the more popular ones being horsegram and arhar, mashed in a silbatta (mortar and pestle) and spiced with tadkas. The nutrients and earthy flavours of phaanu make for a delicious lunch that is best served with a bowl of hot steamed rice.
Recipe: Bhatt ki Dal Ka Phaanu
Ingredients
1 cup black soy bean (soaked overnight)
2-3 green chillies
1/2 inch ginger
6-7 cloves garlic
50 ml oil (preferably mustard oil)
1 tbsp cumin seeds
Asafoetida, a pinch
1 medium onion sliced
1 tsp turmeric
½ tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander
4 cup water
2 tsp clarified butter
¼ tsp grounded black pepper
Salt, to taste
Method
Soak the bhatt in water overnight.
Grind the bhatt along with the chillies, ginger and garlic till there is a thick paste in a mixer or a silbatta.
Take a kadhai and heat the oil in a medium flame.
Next, add in the cumin and hing. When it crackles, add in the sliced onions and stir. When the onions turn translucent, add turmeric, chilli powder, coriander and salt. Mix a tiny amount of water to it, so the spices don’t burn.
Pour in the bhatt paste and keep stirring for a good 5-8 minutes, until the mix becomes a little darker and the smell of the raw dal disappears.
Slowly add in add in the 4 cups of water while mixing and bring to a boil. Now, reduce the flame to a simmer and add ghee with back pepper.
Cook over low heat for 20 minutes, till it is reaches a creamy consistency, and a skin has formed around the edges of the wok. Serve with rice.
Note:
You can add tadka of fresh garlic leaves and red chilli, but this is optional
If you are using horse gram, soak the dal overnight. For arhar or green moong you can soak it for 3-4 hours
Phaanu can be made with any dal in your kitchen pantry.
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