I am remembering Suman and my other lovely friends in Nepal where I was on assignment with US AID working with Kathmandu mushroom farmers. Nepali people will soon be celebrating Janai Purnima, a Hindu festival remarkable for family get togethers and feasts of the traditional dish, Kwati, a sprouted bean soup which is significant in Nepali tradition because it provided high protein nourishment for the crop planting season.
My friends in Kathmandu call this festival Gunhi Punhi, and it is one of their most religiously significant occasions. This year it will be celebrated on August 3rd in both Nepal and in my Oregon home where I will be cooking up this nutritious and quite delicious soup for my special friends and family.
Many thanks to Dixya Bhattarai, the blogger behind the website "Food, Pleasure, Health" who was born and raised in Kathmandu, for sharing her instant pot recipe for Kwati. Of course, it is equally delicious when prepared in a pressure cooker or a crock pot, although the cooking time is increased. When I prepare Kwati in my crock pot, it usually is perfectly cooked in about 4 hours.
And, our sincere apologies to Ms. Bhattarai: we just had to add some of our mushroom powder, because we are a mushroom focused website and because we worked with mushroom farmers when in Nepal.
By the 3rd day, my beans were sprouting nicely.