Discover India's hidden plant protein

In Himachal, sepu badi is not a health food. It is what appears in the big brass vessels at a Dham, what a grandmother soaks the night before a festival, and what gets packed into a tiffin because it travels well and reheats better.

It is made from urad dal — ground, spiced, shaped by hand and left to dry in the mountain sun. That sun-drying is the whole trick. It concentrates the protein, and it gives the badi the porous, slightly meaty structure that lets it drink up a gravy instead of sitting in one.

Outside the state, almost nobody has heard of it. Meanwhile kitchens across India are buying soya chunks that nobody particularly enjoys eating, and paneer that is heavy and expensive. We thought that was a strange gap to leave open.

So we took the recipe that has been in our valleys for generations, kept every part of the method that matters, and fixed only the things that were holding it back: consistent quality, honest labelling, hygienic packing, and a pack you can actually find.