Punjabi Pakora Kadhi

(Potato-Onion Fritters in Spiced Yogurt Curry)

 

Kadhi has quite a rich flavour of all the assorted spices and pakoras are the added attraction to make this ‘Punjabi Pakora Kadhi’ completely irresistible.  As a child, i could never stand the smell of a yogurt and so trying them was out of question. But after i got married and got my interests in cooking, i have figured out what i have missed all through these years. I still don’t have plain yogurt or buttermilk, but yogurt in a must have at my home as i use it tremendously in my cooking. I cant be away from it any more for long .. haha.. 😉

 

 

 

Ingredients:

For the Pakoras:

• 1 Onion, fine chopped
• 1 Potato, grated/ fine chopped
• 1 cup Besan / Gram flour
• a handful of Coriander Leaves, fine chopped
• 1 tsp Red Chili Powder
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric
• 1/4 tsp Asafoetida / Hing
• 1/2 tsp Carom Seeds / Ajwain
• 1 tsp Ginger, grated
• 1-2 green chili fine chopped
• Salt to taste
• Water as required, to make the batter
• Oil for deep frying

For the Tempering:

• 2 tbsp Ghee / Oil
• 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds / Rai
• 1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds / Methi
• 3/4 tsp Cumin seeds / Jeera
• 1/2 tsp Onion seeds / Kalonji
• 1 tsp Fennel seeds / Saunf
• 2 Whole Red Chili
• 1 spring Curry Leaves
• 1/2 Onion, fine chopped (optional)

For the Kadhi:

• 1 cup Sour Yogurt
• 2 tbsp Besan / Gram flour
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric
• 1 tsp Chili powder
• 1 tsp Coriander – Cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp Sugar
• 1 inch Ginger, fine chopped
• 2 tbsp Coriander leaves – garnish
• Water as required

 

 

 

Method:

For the Pakoras:

1. Combine all the ingredients under the pakoras in a big bowl, except the water and oil. Now add little water at a time and make a thick batter.
2. Heat oil in a deep pan or kadai, and drop a small spoonfuls of batter when the oil is hot enough. Deep fry the pakoras till they are crisp and golden on low-medium flame.
3. Drain on a absorbent paper and keep aside.

 

For the Kadhi:

1. Combine besan, sour yogurt, ginger, turmeric, chili powder, sugar, salt and around 1-1.5 cup water in a big bowl. Whisk well, so you get a smooth mixture without any lumps. Keep aside.
2. Now lets start making the curry and we start with the tempering. Take a kadai or a saucepan, heat 2 tbsp of ghee or oil.
3. Add mustard seed, cumin seed, fennel seed, onion seed, fenugreek seed, 2 dry red chilli, curry leaves and sautee them on low flame (we don’t want the spices to get burnt).
4. When they start to splutter and change color, add asafoetida, onion and coriander-cumin powder. Sautee for 3 mins on medium flame so the onions have slightly browned now.
5. Lower the flame, and add the yogurt-besan mixture that we have prepared. Mix well and bring to a boil.
6. Let the kadhi simmer for further 4-5 mins, while stirring occasionally.
7. Check for the taste and kindly adjust as per your taste. You can also add little extra water (hot) if you feel the gravy is too thick and bring to boil.
8. Your kadhi is ready now. Just add the fried pakoras and stir gently. Cover the kadai with a lid and let it stand for 10 minutes before serving. Let the pakoras to soak in the kadhi.
9. I have garnished the kadhi with some crisp pakoras, pinch of chili powder and coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice or roti.

 

Note:

• Use sour yogurt for making this kadhi. You can just keep the yogurt in the room teperature for few hours so it gets lil sour. But still if your yogurt is not sour, then you can try adding a tablespoon of lemon juice or little amchur powder to the yogurt.
• For crispy pakoras dont add too much water to the batter. And if you like the pakoras softer then add little extra water to get a smooth consistency.
• Add more water if you find the kadhi extra thick. the kadhi will thicken up as it cools down. So i prefer to keep it smooth flowing consistency while cooking as its gonna thicken up a bit later.