Punjabi Kadhi Pakodi

This month’s Indian Cooking Challenge had us making a Punjabi Kadhi with the Pakodis (fritters). My association with Punjabi food has been a long one, as I have mentioned numerous times on this blog. Kadhi Pakodi is very special for me since it reminds me of my days in Delhi, which is where I was exposed to it for the first time as part of one of my classmate’s lunch box. Ever since it has stayed with me and whenever I crave for something homely at the same time delicious, I make Kadhi-Pakodi.

From the time I started cooking, I have made a lot of trials and errors to arrive at what I felt was the perfect recipe for Kadhi-Pakodi and have been making it regularly. As is true with any classic recipe, many people have their own version and I found that the recipe given for the challenge was slightly different from how I make it. Nevertheless I followed the recipe, originally by Simran of Bombay Foodie, since I wanted to try out a different option.

 

Punjabi Kadhi-Pakodi

Ingredients

For the Pakodi

• 1 cup Besan (Chickpea flour)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
• Salt
• Oil for deep frying

For the Kadhi

• 1 Cup set yogurt (Dahi)
• 1/3 cup Besan (Chickpea flour)
• 1 tblsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp Ajwain (Carom seeds)
• 1/2 tsp Methi (Fenugreek)
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1 Medium sized onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
• Salt

Method:

To make the Pakodis, Mix together all the ingredients except for the oil. Using a little water , mix them all into a thick paste. Heat the oil and then drop spoonfuls of the mixture and fry them till brown and crisp. Drain on to a kitchen towel and keep aside.

To make the kadhi, mix together the yogurt and besan. Add approx 3-4 cups of water and whisk well. the final consistency should be a little thinner than the thick punjabi lassi but not too thin at the same time.

Add the oil in a deep pan and add the nustard, cumin, fenugreek and carom seeds. As they start spluttering, add the onion and fry for some time.  Then pour the Besan-Yogurt mixture and also add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt and mix well.

Bring this to boil and then simmer for about 20-30  minutes till the Besan is cooked and the Kadhi thickens. Now add the Pakodis and bring to boil again. Add the Garam Masala and Amchoor, mix well, heat through and then swicth off the heat.

Serve hot, ideally with rice but Rotis will do nicely.

My Notes: The Kadhi was absolutely delicious, a bit different from what I make but a good change nevertheless. The only problem for me was that I found the quantity of Besan in the Kadhi to be a little too much. I might try reducing it next time.

To make a variation on the above or in other words to make my version of the Kadhi, make the following changes.

• Use 3-4 tblsp of Besan instead of 1/3 cup for the Kadhi
• Replace the cumin seeds with Fennel seeds
• Add 1-2 dry red chillies to the hot oil when making Kadhi and skip the red chilli powder

PS: I know it might seem as if I am not on talking terms with any one here, what with the  ‘to the point’ posts and that too only for the regular events, but I will be back to post regularly very soon, I promise!

Khichadi-Kadhi : The ultimate comfort food

This ones a classic combination as far as comfort foods go. Of course a lot of broth preparations go quite well with Khichadi such as Tomato-Saar, Rasam, Amsul-Saar etc but there is something about this combination which makes even the otherwise supposedly bland Khichadi a welcome dish.

As much as I love this, I can not come to terms with the fact that this can be regarded as a festive dish as well! Now theres a little story behind this. When we were looking around for a marriage hall for my wedding & looked at the menu options available, almost all of them in Pune, listed Khichadi-Kadhi as one of the items. Now, Khichadi has a reputation for being something very bland & simple, fit for the sick and to put all this in a very pleasant manner at the most a comfort food. I could never imagine having Khichadi on the day of my wedding! I had rejected the menu outright without even looking at the other items. I was completely adamant that come what may I will not have Khichadi for lunch on my wedding day and everyone had to finally decided on (they did agree with me on this point) Masala Bhat.

I said supposedly bland because there are so many variations possible and I bet each household has its own version of Khichadi. To give you an example my mom made it totally different than what my MIL makes and I must add here that her version is a bit different from my FIL’s. Yes! my FIL makes the best Khichadi I have tasted so far and also the Kadhi to go with it.

My version takes a bit of each of the above mentioned and tastes very different from theirs! I have taken whatever I like in each of the above and added some of my own to get to this. Again its not necessary that I will make it exactly this way everytime. I might do something different, increase one thing, reduce another, skip something or add according to my mood that day. What I giving here is the basic Khichadi recipe that I use.

Khichadi

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup rice (I used Sona Masoori)
• 3/4 cup Split yellow Moong dal
• 1 tblsp Ghee (Clarified Butter) or oil
• 1.5 tsp Cumin Seeds
• 6-8 Curry Leaves
• 1/2 tsp Hing (Asafoetida)
• 2 cloves
• 6-7 Peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
• Salt

Method:

Wash the rice & dal and keep aside.

Heat the ghee/oil in a deep pan/kadai. Once hot, add the cumin seeds. Once they sizzle & change colour add the curry leaves and the Asafoetida.

Add the cloves & peppercorns and fry for a minute or two. You could coarsely crush the cloves & peppercorns before adding them. Next, add the turmeric powder and mix.

Add the rice & dal and mix well. Season with salt and let it roast for 2-3 minutes.

Now add double the amount of water than that of the rice and Dal, mix well and bring to a boil.

Reduce the flame, cover & cook till the rice & dal are completely cooked. The consistency for the khichadi is usually mushy.

I use a pressure pan to speed up the process. I do the tempering & roasting of the rice & dal, add water & then cover & pressure cook it for 6 whistles. If you don't have a pressure pan, you can do the tempering & roasting in a pan & then transfer the contents into a vessel that will fit into your pressure cooker & cook it for approx 4-5 whistles depending upon the type of cooker.

Serve hot with ghee poured on it, along with Kadhi, roasted papad & some pickle.

My Notes: The quantity of water has to be adjusted to get that mushy consistency for the khichadi.

For variations I sometimes,

• add one chopped green chilli to the tempering.
• use green split moong dal i.e. split moong dal with the skin. This brings a nice change in the taste.
• add 1.5 tsp of Coriander-Cumin powder to make it a little more spicier.
• add chopped fresh coriander leaves once the khichadi is cooked.

As for the Kadhi, I completely go by my FIL’s recipe, its really the best & the simplest. But I do like garlic in my Kadhi (my mom used to add this in hers!), so I just add a bit of crushed garlic.

Kadhi

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 cup curd
• 2 tblsp Besan (Chickpea flour)
• 1/2 tblsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
• 4-6 curry leaves
• 2 pinches of Hing (Asafoetida)
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1/2 an onion, chopped
• 1-2 cloves of Garlic, coarsely crushed
• 1 green chilli, chopped
• 1-2 tsp Sugar
• Salt

Method:

Make buttermilk (Chaas) of medium consistency using the curd and water. Add salt to this and mix well and keep aside until required.

Make paste of the chickpea flour with some water & keep aside.

heat the oil in a deep pan. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds & as they start spluttering add the Cumin seeds, curry leaves, Asafoetida and the turmeric powder.

Next, add the crushed garlic & onion and fry till the onion starts softening. Add the chopped chilli and mix.

Reduce the heat and add the earlier prepared buttermilk and stir well on medium-low flame.

Once the it is heated through, add the chickpea flour paste and sugar and continue to heat.

The Kadhi should not be allowed to boil too much. Just heated enough till the consistency goes from watery to glossy (the besan being cooked).

Adjust the salt & sugar according to your taste after switching off the flame.

My Notes: You could add any of the vegetables such as Okra, White Pumpkin, Snake gourd etc to get an additional boost in the taste.

Serve hot with Khichadi for that classic combination or with plain rice, or even along with Chapati-Bhaji. I like to have it plain & straight just like a soup too :)

Here’s another look at the dish again,

This plate makes for a great meal for the kids, my daughter S loves Khichadi. So it is on its way to Trupti’s Recipe Center, for the Cooking For Kids:Rice event, started originally by Sharmi of Neivedyam.

Bhopalyacha Bharit (Pumpkin Salad)

Or Butternut Squash Bharit to be precise. That is what is easily available here and that is what I used to make this classic Pumpkin side, which was almost like the real thing.

I have come across a lot of people who call this by different names, all valid, I should add - Salad, Koshimbir or Bharit. This is my favourite way of having pumpkin. Use the flesh for this Bharit and make chutney out of the peel on the lines of this one.

I cant really think of anything else to say today, so here simply is the recipe.

Bhopalyacha Bharit

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 cup Pumpkin/Butternut Squash cubes
• 1/4 cup Curd
• 1 tblsp Ghee (Clarified Butter) or Oil
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• A pinch of Asafoetida
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 6-8 curry leaves
• 1 Green Chilli, finely chopped

Method:

Boil the pumpkin cubes until soft and set aside to cool.

Once cool enough to handle, mash them coarsely with the back of a fork.

Add the salt and curd and mix well. Adjust the quantity of curd as per your preference.

To prepare the tempering, heat the oil/ghee and once hot add the cumin seeds. As they begin to sizzle add the Asafoetida, turmeric powder and curry leaves.

Add the green chilli, give it a stir, switch off the flame and add the tempering to the above prepared Bharit and mix well.

Serve as a side with Chapati/Roti.

Note: Using Ghee for the tempering gives it a very special & unique taste.

Boondi Raita

Mint is one of my favourite herbs. For me it denotes instant freshness. Add it to curries, salads, dips, to anything you want & what you get is a 'fresh' and unique taste. There has to be a reason why most of the mouth fresheners(and toothpastes!) are mint flavoured.

The only place I don't like it is with Chocolate, though mint flavoured chocolate is supposed to be a huge rage! I prefer my chocolate to be 'pure'. Some flavours do blend in well with Chocolate such as Coffee, even Orange but not Mint for me. Having said that there are some dishes where I wont compromise at all without the Mint. This Paneer Pasanda for example gets that special taste only because of the mint.

The pairing of mint with curd/yogurt is one of the best, if you ask me. The only adjective that comes to mind when I think about both of these together is 'COOL'.

I generally serve a curd based side dish with a spicy vegetable/curry preparation to balance the taste. This could be a koshimbir, raita or just plain curd with some sugar! A couple of days back I had made Boondi raita on one such occasion. When I was looking for fresh coriander to add to the raita, my eyes fell upon this bunch of mint and I picked that up instead.The combination was awesome and reminded me of the dip served in one of the Indian restaurants which I had liked a lot.

Boondi is a snack on its own, prepared by deep frying tiny balls of besan (gram flour) batter. These tiny balls are achieved by using a perforated ladle, generally used while handling fried items. Boondi can be sweet or salty. Sweet boondi is also made into ladoo/laddu usually prepared during festivals or marriages. A North Karnataka wedding is considered to be incomplete without these in the menu for the D day! Boondi ladoo, huge ones at that, is also the main prasadam at the Balaji Temple in Tirupati having a unique taste of its own.

Minty Boondi Raita

Ingredients

• 2 cups of curd/yogurt
• 1 cup Boondi (Salty)
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp kala namak (rock salt)
• 1/2 tsp chat masala
• 1/2 tsp jeera powder (Cumin powder)
• 7-8 mint leaves

Method:

Whisk the curd in a bowl adding a little water . Add all other ingredients except the Boondi and stir well.

There are two ways that the Boondi can be added. If you are serving the Raita immediately, then soak the boondi in some warm water for 2 min, take them out & squeeze out the water and then add them to the curd. Otherwise they can be directly added to the curd and kept in the refrigerator. I prefer to add the boondi directly even if serving immediately because I like the slight crunch of the crisp boondi in the raita.

The raita ideally has to be kept to rest for sometime for the flavour of the mint to get infused properly.

This Minty Raita is on its way to
Siri's Frozen Yogurt @ Siri's Corner

Dee's Herb Mania @ Ammalu's Kitchen

Dahi Wada

I am a total Snacks/Junk food person. In fact this is one of the major things I miss about India. Availability of any type of snacks you want within a few minutes. Wada Pav, Samosa, Bhel, Sev Puri, Pani Puri, Dhabeli, Pav Bhaji, Sandwiches...the list is endless & so is the variety. I still remember this particular sandwichwalla near my office in Worli who carries a mobile phone. Whenever we were hungry or just felt like having some sandwiches, all we needed to do was call him with our preferences & he would be there in 15 minutes with the goodies! I had specific places where I liked all these junk food items. Patel's Pani Puri, Mahaveer's Samosa also Gurukripa, Anna's Dosa, Wada Pav outside the King George School, Dhabeli in Ghatkopar(E) and so on.

*Sigh* Those were the days .....

Now If I have one of those urges to have any of the above, I have to make them at home myself or go looking for it all over London. Nothing tastes as it should even if you manage to find what you want. Then I start thinking about everything I am going to sample the next time I am in India....

So here's one of the numerous delicacies that I crave for :)

The best part about this is that when you plan to make this, you automatically have two things ready. I always start out with Medu wada with coconut chutney & sambhar for a weekend breakfast and then make Dahi wada for an evening snack.

Makes about 10-12 wadas (If you want more, just increase the qty of Urad Dal)

Ingredients

1 cup Urad dal

Crushed Black pepper

2-3 cups Curd

1-2 pinches kala namak (Rock Salt)

1 tsp red chili powder

2 tsps roasted jeera (cumin) powder

2 tsps sugar

salt

Oil for frying

Method:

Soak the dal for about 2 hours. Grind it to get a batter similar to that of Medu wada using as little water as possible. Add a little salt & crushed black pepper & mix. Now you can either fry it by making small balls with your hands or by dropping the batter with a tablespoon in the oil. If the batter is quite thick, I would recommend doing it by hand as the wadas will then have a nice round shape. Fry all the wadas and keep aside.

In a Bowl take the curd and whisk it without adding any water. Add the salt, kala namak, chili powder, jeera powder & sugar and mix properly.


Now take the wadas and immerse in warm water for 3-4 minutes & then squeeze out the water. This will soften the wadas and also help to get rid of the excess oil (No, keeping it longer in the water will not take away more oil, rather the wadas will become too soft & might crumble).

Add the wadas to the prepared curd and keep it in the refrigerator.

To serve, scoop out the wadas on to a bowl & add some of the curd. Sprinkle a little kala namak, jeera powder & chili powder. Add some tamarind chutney & coriander/mint chutney.




I didn't have any of those chutneys and we were too hungry to spend time making them so we managed without them but the result was just as delicious.