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Kadhi

Deep fried fritters dipped in a yoghurt based curry madewith gram flour and spices in Punjabi style
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Servings 6

Ingredients
  

For the curry(kadhi)

  • 2 tbsp oil (traditionally cooked inmustard oil but you can use any cooking oil)
  • 1 tsp Cumin seeds (zeera)
  • ¼ tsp Fenugreek seeds (methi dana)
  • 4-5 curry leaves (optional)
  • 50 g onion or ½ cup (sliced)
  • 2 medium/220g tomatoes (chopped)
  • 1 tbsp green chillies (chopped)
  • 1 tbsp ginger paste
  • 1 tbsp garlic paste
  • 1 tbsp red chilli powder
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder (haldi) 
  • ½ cup/75g Gram flour (besan)
  • 2 cups/500g Yoghurt
  • Salt to taste (approximately 2-3 tsp)

For the fritters(pakoras)

  • 1 cup/150g Gram flour
  • 1 cup/100g Sliced onion
  • 2-3 green chillies (chopped)
  • 50 g Coriander leaves (chopped)
  • 50 g Spinach leaves (optional)
  • 1 tbsp crushed ginger
  • 1 tsp salt (adjust according to taste)
  • 1 tbsp crushed red chilli flakes (adjust according to taste) 
  • 1 tsp dry fenugreek leaves
  • ⅛ tsp or a pinch of baking soda
  • Cooking oil for deep frying

For Tempering

  • 4 tbsp oil (traditionally mustard oilis used but you can choose any cooking oil of your choice)
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 3-4 dried whole red chillies
  • ½ tsp red chilli powder

Instructions
 

For the curry (kadhi)

  • In a pot, heat oil, suatecumin and fenugreek seeds until you could smell flavours for about a minute.Add onions and green chillies fry till slightly golden. Add ginger and garlicpaste, red chilli powder, turmeric and salt. Add curry leaves as well if using.Fry this masala for 2-3 minutes until oil separates. Do not overcook theingredients. Once the oil starts to separate switch off the flame.
  • On the side, add 1 cup yoghurt to the gram flour and whisk it together.
  • Then add the rest of the yoghurt and about 6 cups of water (1 cup watermeasures 160ml). Mix it in nicely and pour it onto the fried masala.
  • Start the flame and keep stirring in. Continue to stir in until it comesto a boil (to avoid lumps). When the mixture starts boiling, turn the flame lowand let it simmer for at least an hour on a low to medium low flame until youget the right consistency.
  • We are looking for a runnygravy consistency because it gets thickened once the fritters are dipped in. Itgets thicker when cools down. You will also see sides of the pot getting alayer of kadhi sticking to it. This is the sign of the kadhi(curry) almostgetting done. Whilst cooking half the way, you can taste and adjust theseasoning.

For the Fritters (pakora)

  • Mix in all the ingredientsfor the fritters and use water to make a batter. While making a batter rememberit shouldn’t be too thick because then the fritters will turn out hard and nottoo runny as it will make it harder to give a shape. Use just enough water tomake the batter where the flour is just nicely wrapped around all thevegetables used. Too much of gram flour and less vegetables (onion and spinach)will also make the fritters hard.
  • Heat oil in a deep round pan (kadhai) and fry the fritters in batches ofyour desired size. Fry them on medium high flame to get a crispy outer layerand soft from inside. Fry all the pakoras and set aside.

 For Tempering

  • Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, dried red chillies. When lightbrown, switch off the flame. Add red chilli powder when the flame is switchedoff.

Serving Kadhipakora

  • There are few ways to serve this traditional dish:
  • · At the time of serving, pour hot kadhi (curry) in the serving dish,add pakoras and garnish with the tempering. This is how its normally served inrestaurants.
  • · Once the kadhi is ready add the pakoras to the hot kadhi, mix it ingently and leave it aside. Garnish with the tempering. In this case, if at thetime of serving the curry gets too thick you can add some boiling water toloosen the consistency.