Kadhi (U.P. Style)

 

 Kadhi—a spiced chickpea and buttermilk curry—is the quintessential comfort food, especially in northern India. Be it the thick, creamy Punjabi kadhi with its signature pyaaz ke pakode (onion fritters), spicy Rajasthani kadhi or the thin, pale and distinctly sweet Gujarati kadhi—the dish has myriad avatars.

 One theory traces the origins of kadhi to dairy-rich, grain-based Rajasthan, where buttermilk and yogurt often make up for the scarcity of water, and chickpea is used extensively. The dairy-rich diet is offset by the use of digestive spices like fenugreek, and asafoetida. All these come together in kadhi. “Besides, Rajasthan has a long history of cooking buttermilk with jowar (sorghum) or bajra (pearl millet) flour to make raab (a thin gruel)," says food researcher Ruchi Shrivastava. Raab works as a coolant in summer and warms the body during winters. Kadhi works similarly.

 “The tradition of slow-cooking buttermilk or yogurt is widespread." “According to Ayurveda, cooking buttermilk helps pacify its vata-inducing properties. So, kadhi is particularly light on the stomach and the spices that typically flavour a kadhi help boost the digestive fire." -Sangeeta Khanna, Food writer.

 It is easy to think that it was devised as a clever way of using up buttermilk that was not fresh any more. Masking the staleness with spices and giving it body with some sort of thickener seems to be common.

So, this was a brief history of Kadhi. This humble and classic kadhi has seen a transformation over the years--from simple homes to fancy Five Star restaurants-it is served with delight. A very light dish for stomach which is doubly good in taste, kadhi is that dish one should often cook.

Here is a version which was cooked in my home by both Mom and Mom-in-Law. Mom's kadhi was a little thicker and silky than Mom-in-law's. But Mom-in-law's kadhi was spicier and her bari or pakoras were smaller too. My Kadhi has taken the velvety texture of my mom's and spicier taste 0f my Mom-in-law's kadhi.

Ingredients:

1. Besan or Chickpea flour-1/4 cup
2. Yogurt-32 oz. tub. (You can take home made curd also, keep it on room temperature for 4 hours, that will make sour kadhi and amount needed will be half.)
3. Fenugreek seeds-1/2 tsp.
4. Whole red chili-2
5. Salt
6. Turmeric powder-1 tsp.
7. Red chili powder-2 tsp. heaped
8. Coriander powder-1/2 tsp. (Optional)
9. Cumin-1 tsp.
10. Asafoetida-1/4 tsp.
    
11. Onion-1/2
12. Garlic-3 cloves
13. Water-2 cups
14. Oil-4 tbsp.

Procedure:

• Grate or blend onion-garlic and make a smooth paste using a little water.
• In a mixing bowl, take besan and add asafoetida, turmeric powder 1/2 tsp. Red chili powder 1 tsp. and with help of little water, make a thick batter by continuously stirring with the help of a spoon or fork till fluffy, dip 1 tsp. fluffy  batter in a cup of water, if it swims up,it is done.
• Now add salt and half tsp. cumin and stir again.
• Heat a deep pan or kadai and add oil for frying bari or pakauri. (You can skip this and just add store bought Boondi soaked in hot water when kadhi is boiling, it tastes yummy and saves you from the hard work of making soft baris.)
• Make small pakoris (and leave about 2 tsp. mixture for mixing in curd,0and dip them in hot water kept in a large bowl.
• Now in remaining oil, add fenugreek seeds and  dry whole red chilis and when fenugreek seeds are dark brown, add blended and powdered masalas and salt.
• Bhuno on slow medium flame till oil comes on the surface-approx 7-8 minutes.
•  In a large strainer, sieve yogurt and mix well with remaining besan batter.
  
•  Add  this batter in deep pan or kadai, also add water and chek salt.
• Cook on slow flame till a boil comes, now add lightly squeezed baris or boondis and cook further on slow flame for 30 minutes.
• Kadhi is ready, serve with hot steamed rice.