Kadhi Chawal

Kadhi is one comfort food. Nothing beats a winter afternoon and a steaming plate of kadhi and rice and all you have to do is dip your hands in and eat away the steaming hot mixture.

In our house the right way to eat kadhi was to make a well in between the rice heap and then pour the kadhi in between so that it seeps inside the rice, the fat bhajiyas would lay on top of the rice waiting to be squashed and mashed and eaten.

I saw a very interesting way to give earthen flavor to kadhi at my maternal grand mom's place. After the kadhi was made, a small earthen lamp (diya) was heated, ghee was poured on the diya and then when its hot, the tadka of cumin sees and red chillies was prepared inside the diya and then the whole diya was immersed in the kadi and the lid of the pot was closed for few minutes. I cannot explain how heavenly it tasted with those flavor of diya mixed with ghee.

This is one quick dish and low cal for sure.

This version of kadhi uses grilled bhajiyas. They taste just the same. Infact no one can make out if the bhajiyas we not deep fried. This is one dish that can be replicated exactly with less oil.

Ingredients for Bhajiya:

1. 1 cup gram flour (besan)

2. 1 medium onion finely chopped length wise.

3. Green chilies finely chopped.

4. Salt to taste.

Procedure

1. Mix water in the besan and make a dropping consistency. The batter should not be very thick or runny.



2. With your hand mix well the batter in clockwise and anti clockwise direction. This is called aerating the batter. The more air that goes inside the batter the bhajiyas will swell more. You should do it till the batter becomes smooth and start swelling (as the air goes inside).

3. Now mix the onions, chili and salt and again mix well.



4. On a non stick pan add 1 tsp of oil that coats the whole pan.


5. Now arrange your bajiyas and cover the lid. We are covering the lid of the pan so that the bhajiyas cook nicely from inside. This process is very quick, its just takes 1 - 2 minutes. You will see that the bhajiyas will puff up.




6. Now once the bhajiyas puff up, flip to grill the other side.




Ingredients for Kadhi

1. 1 cup curd.

2. 3 tsp besan.

3. Red pepper powder.

4. 1/4 tsp turmeric.

5. Drum sticks (optional).

6. Red Whole pepper 2- 3.

7. 1 tsp cumin seeds.

8. 1/4 tsp methi seeds.

Procedure.

1. Add curd and besan together and mix well, there should not be any lumps.

2. Now to the above mixture add turmeric powder, chilli powder. Add 2 cup water to make the batter thin and then add salt to taste.



3. In a pan heat 2 tsp of oil, add cumin seeds and methi seeds. When they start spluttering add whole red pepper and drum sticks. Fry these for 2 minutes.



4. Now add the curd batter and leave in to cook on medium heat. The batter will turn dark yellow and will get thick.



5. You need to cook this till the batter is thick and starts emitting an aroma. Taste it to see if the besan is cooked well. If the batter gets very thick you can add more water to adjust the consistency.

6. Once the kadi is cooked and simmering. Put the bhajiyas in hot water for 5 minutes. This is to make the bhajiyas soft. When we deep fry the bhajiyas they are soft where as these bhajiyas are a bit on a hard side. This is tackled by immersing the bhajiyas in hot water and then squeezing the water out.



7. Add the bhajiyas to the kadi and let it simmer for 5 more minutes.



8. Serve hot with rice and roasted papad.



Enjoy!!!

Mom tried this way of Kadhi and it turned out good, check the pics here