Kadhi

Yoghurt and gram flour are simmered together until the gravy thickens, and it must not be allowed to split.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee), dairy (yoghurt).

Ingredients

• 500 g yoghurt, whisked
• 60 g gram flour, besan
• 900 ml water
• 2 dried red chillies
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• a 3 cm piece of ginger, grated
• 3 tablespoons ghee
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 20 g coriander leaves

Method

1. YOGHURT AND GRAM FLOUR ARE SIMMERED TOGETHER UNTIL THE GRAVY THICKENS, AND IT MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO SPLIT. Its article gives the whole dish in one line -- made by SIMMERING YOGHURT with besan and spices until it forms a THICK, TANGY GRAVY -- and the difficulty is hidden in the word simmering. Yoghurt heated on its own curdles. The gram flour is what stops it: whisked in cold, it coats the milk proteins and holds them together while the pan comes up to heat. Which means the besan is structural here, not a thickener you could leave out, and it is why this works where a plain yoghurt sauce does not.
2. EVERYTHING IS WHISKED TOGETHER COLD, BEFORE ANY HEAT. Yoghurt, gram flour, turmeric and the water, beaten until completely smooth. Flour added to a warm pan lumps and the lumps never go.
3. IT IS BROUGHT UP SLOWLY AND STIRRED ONE WAY. Ten minutes to reach a simmer, stirring constantly. This is the only part that can go wrong and it goes wrong fast.
4. IT IS NOT COVERED AND NOT LEFT. Steam condensing back in thins it, and a minute unwatched at the wrong moment is a split pan.
5. THEN IT SIMMERS FOR AT LEAST TWENTY MINUTES. Once it is up, it is stable and it needs the time: besan tastes raw and chalky until it has cooked, and that is the commonest fault in a kadhi that was otherwise made correctly.
6. THE TEMPERING IS ITS ARTICLE'S OWN LIST AND IT GOES ON AT THE END. Red chillies, cumin, coriander seeds, asafoetida and FENUGREEK SEEDS, bloomed in ghee and poured over. Fenugreek is the one that makes it taste of kadhi, and it is bitter if it darkens past golden.
7. IT IS THIN, AND ITS ARTICLE SAYS WHICH VERSIONS ARE THINNER STILL. Nine hundred millilitres of water to five hundred grams of yoghurt. The Gujarati form is slightly thinner again, a little sweet from sugar or jaggery, eaten WITHOUT pakoras, and may be made from buttermilk for a smoother texture -- a different dish in all but name.
8. PAKORAS ARE OPTIONAL AND ITS ARTICLE TREATS THEM THAT WAY. Sometimes mixed with deep-fried fritters. Added, they go in for the last five minutes only, or they dissolve.
9. ITS ARTICLE NAMES WHAT IT IS EATEN WITH. Cooked rice, or Paratha, as on its own page.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes