Ghugni

The dish and how it is eaten

Ghugni is a fixture of eastern India, sold from street carts in Kolkata and found in homes in Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand. In Bengal it often turns up at tea-time, on Bijoya Dashami tables and in every kind of neighbourhood stall, where it is ladled into a leaf bowl and finished with sour tamarind water and raw onion. Recipes differ across the region. The Bengali home version given here uses dried yellow peas, mustard oil, potato and coconut. Bihar and Odisha have their own variations, some made from black chana or green peas, and meat lovers will know mangsher ghugni, in which mutton mince goes into the same pot.

The soak and the crush

Dried peas are slow. A short soak gives you pots of hard peas swimming in thin gravy, however long you simmer them. Eight hours is the minimum for a reliable result, so start the night before and refrigerate in hot weather so the soak does not ferment. Discard that water and cook in fresh. Salt goes into the pressure cooker along with the peas so that they are seasoned to the centre. Once the masala is cooked, crushing a ladleful against the kadhai is what gives ghugni its body. No flour or cashew paste is needed, and the gravy should settle like a thick soup rather than a clear broth.

The masala is the flavour

Two stages give ghugni its taste. The onions need patience, because pale onions leave the dish tasting sharp and thin; aim for deep gold and stir them often through the last few minutes. The bhaja masala goes in at the end, off the heat, because roasted spices lose their top note if boiled for a long time. To make your own, dry roast 2 teaspoons cumin, 1 teaspoon coriander seeds and 2 dried red chillies on low heat for about 3 minutes until fragrant, then grind them. This keeps for a month in a dry jar and works on jhal muri too.

Common mistakes and their rescues

Hard peas are the commonest failure. Do not keep simmering in the masala, since acid from the tomato slows softening. Scoop out the peas, pressure cook them separately with fresh water for 2 whistles, and return them to the gravy. If the gravy is watery, simmer uncovered for 5 more minutes and crush more peas. If it has gone too thick, loosen it with hot water and adjust salt. If it tastes dull, the fix is usually acid and salt rather than more spice: add tamarind water a teaspoon at a time. Overcooked, burst peas still taste good. Serve them as a thick dal-like ghugni with a sharper garnish.

Substitutions and a lighter version

Yellow peas are sold as pila vatana in many Indian shops. White peas (safed vatana), the usual choice for ragda in Mumbai, behave the same way, while kala chana gives a chewier ghugni and takes a little longer. Mustard oil is what makes this taste Bengali; a neutral oil is fine but milder, so add a small extra pinch of chilli. For a lighter bowl, use 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil and skip the frying step for the potato, simmering the cubes directly in the gravy for about 15 minutes. Leave out the potato altogether and you have a higher protein pot that is also easier to keep for a couple of days.

Serving it

At home it is usually served on its own in a small bowl, with puffed rice or a thin slice of toast, or as a meal with parathas or luchi. A cup of masala chai is what most people expect beside it on a rainy evening. For a leaf-bowl street feel, finish the bowl at the table so that the onion stays crisp and the coriander stays fresh.

Storing and reheating

Cool the ghugni soon after cooking, and refrigerate it in a closed container for up to 3 days. Leave the raw toppings off until serving. It thickens substantially overnight, so reheat in a pan with a splash of hot water on medium heat until bubbling all through, and stir so the base does not catch. It also freezes well for up to a month if you can leave out the potato, which turns grainy in the freezer.