How to make Kadhi - a delicious Vegetarian dish

Kadhi or karhi is a north Indian dish. It consists of a thick gravy based on chickpea flour, and contains vegetable fritters / pakoras, to which curd / yogurt is added to give it little sour taste. There are several regional varieties of this dish – Punjabi, Gujrati, Rajasthani etc. I have modified the Punjabi version of it and added some Bengali twist to make an yummy dish. Hope you like this recipe.

Preparation Time: - 15 min

Cooking Time: - 35~40 min

Servings: - 8~10 persons (depends upon personal capacity)  

Ingredients:-

For the Pakora / fritters

1. 1 ½ cup split Chickpeas / Chana dal (approx. 350 gm.)
2. ½ cup fresh curd / yogurt
3. 1 medium Onion
4. 2 tsp Ginger garlic paste
5. 8~10 corns of whole Black pepper
6. 2 tsp Cumin (Jeera) seeds
7. 1 chopped Green Chilli ( you can use Red Chilli if you are spice lover)
8. 2 tsp Garam Masala
9. Sufficient vegetable oil to fry

For the Gravy

10. 2 cups fresh curd / yogurt
11. 3 tsp Besan (Gram Flour)
12. ½ tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)
13. ½ tsp mustard seeds
14. ½ tsp Methi (fenugreek) seeds
15. A few curry leaves
16. 1 Green Chili slited
17. 1 tsp Turmeric powder
18. 1 tsp Coriander powder
19. 1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli powder
20. 2 tsp grated Ginger
21. ½ tsp Ghee or clarified butter (optional)
22. 2 tsp Sugar (optional)
23. Salt to taste

For Garnishing

24. 2 tsp finely chopped Coriander leaves
25. 1 Green Chili slited

Preparation:-

1.     Soak the Chana dal for minimum 4~5 hours.

2.     Crush the black pepper corns with the help of mortar and pestle. You can use the readymade pepper powder also but the taste would be better if you use pepper corns.

3.     Grind the Chana dal in a blender with ginger garlic paste, black pepper, chopped green chili, Garam masala, salt along with curd. Make a smooth bater. You can use water instead of curd but curd makes the pakora / fritters soft and enhances the taste.

4.     Chop the onion.

5.     Mix the chopped onion and whole Jeera (cumin seeds) with the batter.

6.     You can add a pinch of baking soda for making the fritters fluffy but I do not prefer it as it is not healthy for kids.

7.     Heat sufficient oil in a round shaped Kadai.

8.     Take a spoonful of batter in between your fingers or in a spoon and carefully drop in the oil.

9.     Deep fry them until medium brown and crispy. I fried 7~8 pakoras in a single batch. Your batch size may be different according to your kadhai size.

10.  Drain the excel oil in kitchen towel and keep aside.

11.  Follow the same procedure for the remaining batter.

12.  Take a bowl and beat curd and gram flour together. You can use hand blender to make it smooth and avoid lumps quickly.

13.  Add 1 ½ cup of water to the mixture and pour turmeric powder, salt, Kashmiri chili powder and coriander powder. Blend again with the hand blender until smooth. The idea is to avoid the lumps.

14.  Heat 2 ½ tbsp. sunflower / canola oil in a non-stick pan in medium flame.

15.  Add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds.

16.  When the spices crackle then add curry leaves and grated ginger.

17.  Sauté for 30~40 seconds and add the batter prepared in step 13.

18.  Cook on medium flame until the raw smell of gram flour goes away. This would be about 8 minutes. Stir frequently so that the bottom portion does not become sticky. You may add a little bit of water if the gravy becomes thick.

19.  Add the deep fried pakoras in the gravy and mix well. Cook for 3~4 min.

20.  Add sugar if you like. I added it as all Bengalis are sugar-lovers. If you like the tanginess of the gravy then you do not need it. In fact, it all depends upon the degree of the tanginess of your curd.

21.  Now add Ghee to have a nice aroma. Mix well and switch off the burner.

22.  Garnish with coriander leaves and green Chilli.

Your yummy Kadhi is ready to be served.

This is a side dish that goes well with steamed rice ( Kadhi Chawal as in Punjabi dish) or Tandoori Roti. It can go with Jeera rice as well. Kadhi, a vegetable dish and a glass full of Lassi is a good idea of wholesome dinner.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.