• In a clean cooking pot, add a litre of water and boil water. Switch off the flame.
• While water is boiling, thoroughly wash & peel, the carrots and beetroot. Taste the carrots, sometimes the insides are bitter, discard those parts. Then cut into long sticks.
• Add the brown mustard seeds to a clean spice grinder and grind into a fine powder.
• Place carrot sticks along with beetroot in a tall glass jar. You could use ceramic jar too.
• Sprinkle the mustard powder, salt, pinch of asafoetida (hing), regular salt and red chilli powder. Add a little bit of tangy kala namak (indian rock salt). Kala namak or black salt is commonly used in indian chaat and chutneys and here it contributes to the tartness of the kanji. Some peole also like adding black pepper powder, you could try it.
• Pour hot water that we boiled over the carrot and spices.Stir using a clean wooden spoon to make sure that the salt dissolves. Tie a clean muslin cloth (or a cotton cloth) around the the mouth of the jar.
• Leave the kanji to ferment in the sun . In about 3-4 days, the process of fermentation begins and kanji acquires a sour taste. Depending on where you live and hence how warm it is, it could take 5-7 days. Similar to pickles, the longer you ferment, the more tart kaanji becomes.

Storing & Serving

• Kanji drink has a good shelf life. You may store it at room temperature for a week. Or store in the refrigetaor for 2 weeks. It is best enjoyed cold. Serve it over ice cubes if you wish. Similar to jal jeera, I love to top mine with some boondi (fried gram flour balls). 

  While serving you could add a few pieces of pickled carrots and beets. These vegetables can also be added to salads or for topping sandwiches or wraps too.