Punjabi kadi

                                                    





INGREDIENTS
1.5 cup full fat sour curd/dahi/yogurt or 375
gram curd
3 cups water or add as required
½ tsp red chilli powder/lal mirch powder
½ tsp turmeric powder/haldi
½ tsp garam masala powder
generous pinch of asafoetida/hing
1 to 1.5 tsp salt or add as required
8 tbsp besan or about 40 grams
mustard oil or sunflower oil or any oil for
shallow frying or deep frying pakoras
for onion pakoras:
1 cup tightly packed thinly sliced onions or
2 medium to large onions or 150 grams
1 cup besan or gram flour
½ tsp red chilli powder/lal mirch powder
½ tsp turmeric powder/haldi
½ tsp garam masala powder
½ tsp ajwain/carom seeds
⅔ to ¾ tsp salt or add as required
¼ cup water
for the punjabi kadhi:
1 small to medium onion or ⅓ cup chopped
onion
1 tbsp chopped ginger/adrak
¾ to 1 tbsp chopped garlic/lahsun
8-10 fenugreek seeds/methi seeds
2 green chillies chopped
2 red chillies broken
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
a generous pinch of asafoetida/hing
8 to 10 curry leaves or 1 sprig
2 tbsp mustard oil

INSTRUCTIONS

preparing the curd mixture:

1. in a bowl take 1.5 cups sour curd or about375 grams of curd. whisk it well till smooth

2. add 8 tbsp gram flour, ½ tsp red chillipowder, ½ tsp turmeric powder, ½ tsp
    garam masala

3. powder and 1 tsp salt to the whisked curd.

4. stir and mix everything again.

5. add 3 cups water and stir again.

6. stir very well to make a smooth mixture without lumps. if there are lumps, then
    break them with a wired whisk or a spatulaor with your fingers. keep the curd mixture
    aside. you can use a blender to make this mixture, but make sure you don’t over do
     it. you will get butter instead of a smooth blended curd

preparing the onion pakoras:

1. take the 1 cup gram flour/besan in a bowland add ½ tsp ajwain/carom seeds, ½ tsp
    red chili powder, ½ tsp garam masalapowder and ⅔ tsp salt or as required.

2. add 1 cup thinly sliced onions.

3. mix everything well and keep aside covered
    for 30 minutes.

4. this will allow the onions to release theirwater in the mixture. depending on the
    water content in the onions, the mixturewill become very moist or just about
    moist. here's a pic of the onions after 30minutes.

5. then accordingly add water as required tomake a thick batter. i added ¼ cup water.

6. heat oil for deep frying in a pan or kadai. with a spoon or with your hands drop the
    pakora batter in the oil.

7. when the pakoras are partly cooked, thenturn over and fry the other side.

8. fry till the pakoras are crisp and golden.

9. remove the fried pakoras and place themon a kitchen paper towel so that extra oilis absorbed. fry         the pakoras in batchesthis way. when done keep all of themaside.

preparing the kadhi:

1. in another pan or kadai, heat 2 tbspmustard oil. make sure to use a largebottomed pot so that while      boiling, thekadhi does not spill.

2. add the 1 tsp cumin seeds, 8 to 10 methiseeds and a generous pinch of asafoetida allow the cumin       seeds to crackle and themethi seeds to change their color. fry on alow flame, so that these spices do     not get burnt.

3. add ⅓ cup chopped onion. stir and sautefor 3 minutes on a low flame.

4. then add 1 tbsp chopped ginger/adrak, ¾ to 1 tbsp chopped garlic and 2 green
   chillies, chopped. stir and saute for a minute.

5. now add 8 to 10 curry leaves, 2 dry red chilies (halved or broken). stir and saute for a minute on a       low flame.

6. then add the curd mixture
.
7. stir very well.

8. increase the flame to medium and bring the kadhi to a boil. keep on stirring often so that the    bottom does not get browned.

9. lower the flame and then simmer the kadhifor 6 to 7 minutes. the kadhi will thicken. if
    the kadhi becomes too thick, then add some hot water.

10. now add the onion pakoras in the kadhi. stir gently.


11. cover the kadhi with a lid and let the onion paras be soaked in the kadhi for 8 to 10 minutes.

12. lastly sprinkle some garam masala powder on the punjabi kadhi.

13. serve the punjabi kadhi pakora with steamed rice or jeera rice, topped with few
       teaspoonfuls of ghee. you could also have kadhi with rotis or parathas.