Tag Archives: Kadhi

Recipes: Dahi Dal aka Yogurt Dal

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I have been mulling about this recipe ever since I saw something like this on social media. And I recently got a chance to play around with this recipe. I had some leftover dal which was not enough to make an actual dal, I was saving it to make rasam but decided to make this instead. This is actually a very simple recipe and takes hardly any time to make, especially if like me, you already have the prepared dal.

Dahi Dal aka Yogurt Lentils

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup prepared moong or toor dal
  • 1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
  • 1 cup beaten yoghurt
  • 2 tsp gramflour or besan
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 2 dried red chillies, broken
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • ½ tsp ginger paste
  • 1 tsp garlic paste
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tsp sugar (optional)
  • 1 tbsp ghee or oil
  • 1 tbsp kasuri methi
  • Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  • Heat the ghee or oil in a pan and when it warms up, add in the cumin seeds and let the seeds splutter. Then add the dried red chillies and saute for a couple of seconds.
  • Then add in the onions and saute until the onions become translucent.
  • Now add in the ginger and garlic pastes and saute for a couple of minutes.
  • Beat the prepared dal till it is a creamy consistency and pour it in and let it come to a rolling boil.
  • In the meantime beat the yoghurt well with the gram flour so that there are no lumps.
  • When the dal is boiling, slowly add in the yoghurt and stir continuously so that the yoghurt does not start stringing.
  • Add salt and sugar to taste. Add more water to thin it as per preference.
  • Crush the kasuri methi in the palms of your hands and add it to the dal. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or rotis.

Recipes: Mor Chaar

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This recipe is from my memories. My mother used to go to the market and do her rounds of the temple in Matunga about thrice a week from time I can remember. It has stopped now because of COVID, and had reduced to about twice a week a couple of years back, but this used to be the routine all through my growing up years. On those days, she would have to come back home and then make dinner for us. Some days, when time was short, she used to rustle this dish up to go with rice and any leftover stir fry vegetable. An extremely quick recipe, this can be made in less than 10 minutes start to finish. My mother used to add tomatoes to it, which, because of the quick cooking time would be slightly raw and which I hated at that time. So I would make sure I avoided getting any tomatoes in my plate. My sister, on the other hand, loved the tomatoes, so to us, it was a win-win situation. My version does not have any tomatoes, but you can add them if you want. This can also be a version of Kadhi, albeit one without any thickening agent like coconut or chickpea flour.

This dish is prepared across Tamil households and made when you need to make something very quickly. It can also be drunk as a cooling yoghurt based dish when it is hot outside as it will cool the body down. I served this with a carrot thogayal and a vegetable stir-fry for lunch with brown rice.

Mor Chaar

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup yoghurt, thinned to about 2 cups and beaten well
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tsp oil
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
  • ¼ tsp asafoetida
  • 5-6 curry leaves
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • 2-3 dried red chillies
  • Finely chopped coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  • Whisk the yoghurt to thin it, add salt to taste and keep aside.
  • Heat the oil in a pan and when the oil warms, add the mustard seeds
  • When the mustard seeds pop, add the fenugreek seeds, dried red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves and let the curry leaves crackle.
  • Add the turmeric powder and stir for a couple of seconds.
  • Now reduce the flame of the gas and pour in the whisked yoghurt, continuously stirring so the yoghurt does not curdle.
  • Keep stirring and whisking the buttermilk and on a low to medium flame, let this come to a nice rolling boil.
  • Boil for a few minutes and switch off. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice and a vegetable.

Recipes: Cauliflower and Broccoli Kadhi

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Since we could not use onions and garlic in our cooking post Navratri, I had to come up with new recipes so that we eat a variety of foods and at the same time, eat a Jain diet.

While browsing for new recipes, I came across the Jaisalmeri Chana Kadhi recipe which intrigued me. Instead of using black Chana or Chole, I used a combination of Cauliflower, Broccoli and Frozen Green Peas. BB & GG love this combination as a stir fry and this recipe in a chickpea flour and yoghurt gravy was a hit at home and we finished the whole pan that day!

Cauliflower and Broccoli Kadhi

Ingredients:

  • 1 head cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 head broccoli, chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 cup frozen green peas
  • 1.5 cups plain yoghurt, beaten well
  • 3 tbsp besan or chickpea flour
  • 2 tsp ginger and green chilli paste
  • 2 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 tbsp ghee
  • 1 tbsp kasuri methi
  • Salt to taste
  • Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  • Wash the vegetables and keep aside.
  • Heat the oil in a pan and when the oil warms up, add half the cumin seeds and let them splutter.
  • Next add 1/8 tsp asafoetida and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and stir for a couple of seconds.
  • Add the vegetables and stir well. Add 1 tsp each red chilli powder, cumin powder and coriander powder and stir well.
  • Cover and cook till the vegetables are about 75% cooked. Season with salt and remove from the fire.
  • Whisk together the chickpea flour or besan and yoghurt to get a smooth paste. Add the chilli-ginger paste, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp chilli powder and some salt and whisk together. Make sure there are no lumps from the besan and it is completely smooth. You can also add water as needed to get a pouring consistency batter.
  • In another pan, heat the ghee and add the balance cumin seeds when the ghee warms up. When the cumin seeds crackle, add the balance asafoetida powder and stir.
  • Pour in the chickpea flour yoghurt batter and let it come to a nice rolling boil. Keep stirring and Ensure that the yoghurt does not curdle.
  • Add the cooked vegetables and continue boiling. Check for seasoning add if something does not seem right. Add the garam masala and crush the kasuri methi in your palms and add it to the gravy. Let the gravy thicken slightly and then switch off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice or any Indian flatbread.

Notes:

  • If you don’t have the chilli ginger paste, you can also use finely chopped ginger and chillies instead
  • You can also use onions in this recipe. Just add it when you heat the ghee and add the cumin seeds and asafoetida and before adding the chickpea yoghurt paste.
  • Instead of these vegetables, you can substitute it with other vegetables or even use black Chana or Kabuli chana.

Recipes: Pithla

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Here’s another recipe from the heartlands of my home state of Maharashtra. This recipe is from the kitchens of the rustic, rural householder and is a staple of practically every Marathi household. I got this recipe from a book I have had for almost twenty years now, called Maharashtrian Cooking authored by Kumud Marathe.

Pithla is something you can make in a hurry and can be increased also just as easily. You can make it as thick or thin as you like

Pithla

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup sour yoghurt
  • 2 cups water
  • 3-4 tbsp chickpea flour or besan
  • 2 onions, thickly sliced
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 4-5 curry leaves
  • 1 green chilli, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1/8 tsp asafoetida powder
  • 3-4 tbsp cooking oil
  • Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  • Beat the yoghurt well and mix it with the besan to make it a nice non-lumpy paste. Add water to increase it to the quantity and thickness you want, add salt and keep aside.
  • In a pan, heat the oil and when the oil is warm, add the mustard seeds. When the seeds pop, add in the chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida.
  • Now add the onions and cook till the onions are translucent and cooked.
  • Next, add the buttermilk and chickpea flour paste and let it come to a boil.
  • The more you boil this gravy, the thicker it will become. If you want it slightly thick, let it come to a boil and then switch off the flame after checking for seasoning.
  • Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot over plain rice or even Indian flatbreads.

You can call this a Maharashtrian Kadhi. For more Kadhi recipes, see Gujarati Kadhi and South Indian Mor Kozambu