Ingredients for cooking the beans

• 8 ozs (230 g) whole black beans (maanh sabat)
• 2½ to 3 teaspoonfuls salt
• 1oz (30 g) finely-cut ginger (adrak)
• 4 dried red chillies (lal mirch sabat)
• 2 pts (1.2 litres) water
• 12 finely-cut cloves of garlic
• ½oz (15 g) clarified butter or ghee

For cooking the beans:—Remove the grit from the beans and wash them 3 to 4 times. Boil the water and add salt, beans, garlic, ginger, red chillies and ghee. Cover with a saucer-shaped lid containing a little water. When it comes to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Alternatively pressure-cook at 15 lb pressure for half an hour and allow the pressure to drop by itself; uncover, cook the beans further in the same pan or another open pan on slow fire for half an hour; stir and mash them every now and then till they are reduced to a creamy consistency.

For the baghar or tadka:—Heat the ghee, add ginger, stir for a second and then add green chillies, red pepper and the garam masala. Mix half of it into the cooked urhad and keep the remaining half for adding to it just before serving.

Urhad is a North Indian dish and is taken with chapaties or plain boiled rice.