Gram Flour/Besan Kadhi

Kadhi is prepared in many different ways but for most of them the basic ingredients remain the same except for sindhi curry.
It is very delicious and I usually make it once or twice a week when I get bored of making lentils ;-). It goes off very well with rice or khichdi. The various kinds of pakoras added to the kadhi enhance its flavor even more.

Let us start cooking!!!

Ingredients:
For the onion pakoras/fritters (This section is optional)
Besan/Gram flour: 1 cup
Water: ½ cup
Onions: 2 medium thinly sliced
Red Chili powder: 1 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Asafoetida: a pinch
Ajwain/Carom seeds: 1 tsp
Garam Masala: ½ tsp
Salt as per taste
Oil for frying

For the kadhi:
Curd: 2 cups
Besan/gram flour: 4 tbsp
Water: 2 cups
Turmeric powder: ¼ tsp
Cinnamon powder: ¼ tsp
salt to taste

For the tempering:
Ginger Garlic paste: ½ tbsp
Cumin seeds: ½ tsp
Mustard Seeds: ½ tsp
Methi/fenugreek Powder: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: 8-10
Green Chillies: 2 de-seeded and finely chopped
Asafoetida: a pinch
Laung/Clove: 2-3
Whole black pepper: 4
Ghee: 1 ½ tbsp
Salt as per taste

Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp finely chopped

Method:
1. At the very beginning we prepar the onion pakoras.
     a. Mix well all the ingredients under onion pakoras except oil.

     b. Leave it for 10-15 minutes.

     c. Now stir it well and either with fingers or spoon you can put the pakoras in oil.
     d. Heat oil in a kadai and fry the pakoras until they are crisp and have changed the color to brown.

     e. Keep them on a paper towel for later use.
2. In a vessel take curd. Beat it well and just warm it.
3. Now add turmeric powder, cinnamon powder and salt. Stir well.
4. Add gram flour and mix it well assuring that no lumps are formed.

5. Now add water and stir well.

6. In a pan, heat oil, add asafetida, mustard seeds, whole black pepper and cloves. Let them crackle.
7. Now add cumin seeds and fry for a few seconds. Add fenugreek powder.
8. Add ginger garlic paste, green chillies and curry leaves. Fry till the raw smell of the garlic and ginger goes off.
9. Pour the gram flour and curd mixture into this pan.
10. Stir it continuously until the kadhi starts boiling otherwise the curd you will notice small clots of curd in the kadhi.
11. Let it simmer for 10-12 minutes.
12. Now add the fried pakoras to the hot kadhi and keep it covered for a few minutes.

13. Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or chapati/roti.

Tips:
1. Add water after mixing the curd and gram flour otherwise it would be difficult to remove the lumps.
2. Always take a bigger vessel to make kadhi otherwise it may spill off.
3. The consistency of water can be increased/decreased a bit depending upon the thickness you want for your kadhi.
4. Make sure your curd is sour otherwise the kadhi will not become sour. As an alternative drizzle few drops of lime juice.
5. Instead of onion pakoras you can make plain gram flour pakoras, cabbage pakoras, bottle gourd pakoras. Each pakora tastes fabulous.
6. Again, as an alternative you can add boondi to the kadhi. Yet another recipe ….yay!!!
7. Even a kadhi without pakoras will taste good.
8. You can use red chilly powder also for the tempering of kadhi.

See you soon with a new recipe till then Happy Cooking!!!