ERRA AUNTY’S KADHI RECIPE

I remember, a year back, when my friend, M, and I were both staying at my Bhua’s place, working on a venture that never kicked off, M made this amazing kadhi (a soup kind of dish made from gram flour and yogurt). I remember having a similar version at my friend B’s place when I was in school. I am not a kadhi fan. Well, let me rephrase that: I am not a Punjabi kadhi fan- the one that is generally really thick in consistency and has fried pakoras immersed in it. But I love the Rajasthani kind and loved M’s version. So, when I got married and moved to the States and started trying my hand at cooking I requested M to mail me the recipe.

Now, I could just give you the recipe in my boring step-by-step style or could post the recipe exactly as M described it. I enjoyed the way she explained each step and hopefully, she won’t mind me posting it verbatim here. Knowing her, she won’t. Thanks M, not only for the recipe but for everything else.:)

I have called it Erra aunty’s kadhi recipe because I think its M’s mom’s (Erra Aunty) recipe, but, come to think of it, it might be M’s own recipe too.

P.S: The italicized comments in the brackets are mine! Rest all is from M’s mail.

M’s/ERRA AUNTY’S KADHI RECIPE

Ingredients

1 cup yogurt

1.5 tsp besan (gram flour)

1 glass of water

Turmeric powder, a pinch

Salt, to taste

1 tsp red chilli powder, plus more for garnishing at the end

1.5-2 tbsp ghee, clarified butter

1 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp Fenugreek seeds

Few curry leaves/ bitter leaves

1 big slice of ginger

2-3 green chillies

1-2 tbsp minced garlic

Cilantro leaves, for garnishing

Directions

Like take a cup of yoghurt. Add 1.5 tsp besan (gram flour) (the more besan you add, the thicker the kadi will be, so if you like thicker kadi add more, we make it thin and watery) and mix that up with 1 glass of water. And bring this to a boil stirrting continuously, because if you don’t stir continuously, the two separate and it looks ugly. Once the water has boiled properly, the two shouldn’t separate. While stirring, you can add a little haldi (more if u want it more yellow), salt and a little red pepper powder. Stir stir stir and boil.

Separately, in a small little pan (for the tadka) add some ghee (like 1.5-2 tbsp), mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry patta (curry leaves), 1 big slice of ginger, cut green chillies (I suggest large cut pieces so that u don’t bite into them and put your mouth on fire, the large pieces can be removed and put aside on the plate if it comes into ur serving…. can’t do that with small pieces) some minced garlic or garlic paste and let all the flavors come out (the kitchen should be smelling like an indian heaven by now) and right at the end put in some red chilli powder for some color and after like 3-4 seconds take it off the fire and add this to the boiled dahi-water-besan mixture. So that it looks pretty. Dont mix too much after that because then the ghee gets mixed with the water and then it loses its color and it doesn’t look pretty after that. Let the red ghee stuff float on top so it looks pretty. Add like chopped dhaniya (cilantro leaves), if u have any, on top to add to the prettiness. I think that should do it.