Indian Cooking Challenge - Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda

I havent participated in the last two ICC challenges bcoz of my sudden trip to India. So I had decided to participate in this month's ICC Challenge no matter what! In fact when Srivalli chose Simran's Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda for September challenge, I browsed through the recipe and thought I would make it within a couple of days following her announcement and posting of the recipe. However, life has been very hectic both at home and at work and I havent been cooking a lot these days. I just got done making this delicious kadhi pakoda and I'm posting this just in time. Though, I make buttermilk kadhi very often, my version is more like the Maharashtrian/ Gujarati kadhi where ginger, curry leaves and green chillies are mainly used for flavoring the kadhi. Besides, I have never added any pakodas to the kadhi so that was something I had never tried making before. I just tasted the kadhi and it tasted awesome. However we will be having it for lunch tomorrow.

I made a few changes to the original recipe. I replaced the yogurt with buttermilk, added some finely chopped fenugreek/ methi leaves to the onion pakodas and reduced the amounts of certain ingredients called out in the original recipe.

Ingredients -

For Pakodas -

1/2 cup besan / chickpea Flour

1 medium onion sliced

1/4 cup finely chopped fenugreek/ methi leaves

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp red chilli powder Water

Oil for deep frying

For Kadhi -

11/2 cups buttermilk

21/2 cups water

1/4 cup besan/ chickpea flour

3/4 tsp mustard seeds

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

3/4 tsp ajwain/ carom Seeds

3/4 tsp methi / fenugreek seeds

1 large onion finely chopped

1 pinch turmeric powder

Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp amchur/ dried mango powder

Method -

1. Slice onions lenghtwise. Take the chickpea flour, salt, red chill powder and chopped fenugreek/ methi leaves in a bowl. Add some water to it to make a batter of a semi thick consistency.

2. Heat some oil in a pan/ kadhai for deep frying. When it is hot, dip onions in the batter and gently drop into the hot oil. Deep fry until crispy.

3. Drain and keep aside.

4. For the kadhi, take some buttermilk in a bowl and add enough water to it. Now add chickpea flour, salt, sugar, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and mix well to make a very thin batter.

5. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. When the oil in hot, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, carom seeds and methi/ fenugreek seeds. Let them splutter for a few seconds.

6. Add the finely chopped onions and fry till they turn light brown.

7. Pour in the buttermilk batter and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for at least half an hour. Keep stirring occasionally.

8. When you feel it is pretty thick, add the reserved pakodas and bring to boil. Add garam masala and amchur powder to the gravy just before taking it off the stove.