As the sun sets in Mohenjo Daro, Allah Dino — the guard at the gates of the excavation site — stops people from venturing inside while urging those there already to wrap up, as he prepares to lock the gates. The museum upstairs is already closed. Still, the people are hungry for more.

The vast gardens leading to the entrance beckon as does the aroma of freshly brewing tea in a neat little stall there. Hakim Zadi and her husband Owais are more than happy to sell not just tea to the visitors who come here from all over the world but anything else that they’d want to order from her menu. It being a rare delicacy of Sindh, Hakim Zadi’s beh sabzi is a popular choice. On the menu, she has mentioned it simply as ‘Lotus’. But she tells me that, besides its local name ‘beh’, it is also known as kanwal kakrri or lotus root.

Hakim Zadi cooks two lotus root options: plain with tomatoes and yogurt or with spinach. “I inherited my cooking skills from my mother and grandmother but that was not enough to feed my six children,” the woman smiles. She was able to set up the stall at Mohenjo Daro after getting a loan from the Sindh Rural Support Organisation. Now, she also runs a catering business. “Of course, beh is always on the menu because it is Sindh’s delicacy,” she tells Eos.

A few tips from her about cooking beh and how to find the best lotus root in the market proved helpful when I went looking for it in Karachi, where it is not easily available. You can either find it in Empress Market, Garden East or around Numaish, provided you know what you are looking for.

The story of beh, Sindh’s beloved lotus root, and how to bring its taste to your kitchen…

Looking for something white, similar to horseradish, resembling an old telephone dial, because of the many holes, I did not recognise beh when I actually saw it in Empress Market. It was completely covered in mud. “You must make sure that both sides are intact and sealed otherwise the dirt enters the holes, making it difficult to wash off,” Hakim Zadi had warned. But here, the ends were not even visible. They were completely covered in hardened mud.

Soaking the beh in water for a while helps get rid of the mud but cleaning also involves scraping the skin. Thankfully, both ends were sealed. After cleaning and slicing each root, you must soak it in water mixed with white vinegar before cooking because it tends to change colour, similar to a peeled potato or apple. Following are some options of how you can cook beh.

Beh chips

A couple of medium-sized lotus roots may be cleaned and sliced thinly before being soaked in water with a couple of tablespoons of white vinegar for about one hour. After drying the slices, deep fry them until they turn golden brown. Sprinkle salt to taste, with black pepper and garlic powder before relishing the crunchy delight.

Beh curry

Clean thoroughly and cut one kilogramme of beh into thick slices. Pour a little oil into a cooking pot to fry half a cup of chopped onions, with half teaspoon each of salt and turmeric powder. Add 10 cups of water and let it cook on low heat until tender.

Prepare the curry in a separate pot by frying another half cup of chopped onions until they turn golden. Add two chopped tomatoes, with a teaspoon each of red chilli powder and coriander powder, another half teaspoon of turmeric powder and a quarter teaspoon of garam masala [mix of ground spices] powder with salt to taste. Also, add one teaspoon each of ginger and garlic paste. You may also add one or two green chillies to add flavour and aroma.

Pour in one cup of yogurt and stir for two minutes before transferring the boiling beh to the other pot, along with whatever water remains in it. Cook curry to the consistency you desire and sprinkle chopped coriander before serving.

Beh in spinach

Boil one kg of beh cut into thick slices in a separate pot with 10 cups of water, mixed with one teaspoon of turmeric powder until the beh is tender. Also, clean and slice the spinach leaves before placing them in another pot over heat, without adding water as the water in the spinach itself will help it cook. Set aside while the spinach water evaporates.

Now, pour in one cup of cooking oil into a fresh pot and fry before adding a quarter teaspoon garam masala, half a teaspoon of white cumin seeds, and one teaspoon each of red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder with salt according to taste. Then, add one teaspoon each of ginger and garlic paste. Stir for two minutes before adding two chopped tomatoes. Stir until the tomatoes are tender. Add a couple of green chillies for flavour and aroma before adding the spinach.

Stir for around five minutes before adding the boiled beh and stirring further. Cover with a lid for 10 minutes and leave on low heat until you notice oil seeping out from the sides.

This piece would not be complete without Hakim Zadi stressing the benefits of beh. “It has a number of health benefits,” she had told me. “The fibre found in it is good for the heart. It helps in diabetes, too. Besides, it is the ideal vegetable to have in the hot summer as it carries properties that normalise body heat.”

And where did she hear all that? “From my mother and grandmother. Any doctor will back this claim.”

The writer is a member of staff. X: @HasanShazia

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 17th, 2025