Simple Kadhi (Yogurt Soup): Kadhi Chawal: Kadhi For Khichadi

Comfort food- what’s yours? If you have ever noticed comfort food are generally the ones that are easy to cook but are loaded with calories. See Americans love their Mac and cheese- easy but calories laded. Simple tadka daal and white rice is the comfort food for most of the Indians, simple to cook but remember the starch and the ghee. But hey, when we are talking about comfort let’s not count calories- good food= good life.

One of my favourite comfort food is kadhi (yogurt soup). Kadi or kadhi is made using gram flour (besan) and yogurt (dahi/curd). Kadhi takes on different flavours as it travels from state to state throughout the India. In Gujarat the kadhi is sweet and white in colour (no use of turmeric); you need to add pakodas (fried dumplings of chickpea flour) in the Punjabi kadhi; marwadi kadhi is thick super spicy with tadka(tempering) of dry red chillies.

This is Simple Kadhi that you can make every day. One of the best thing about kadhi is that it needs no vegetable- just plain simple Indian spices and you are good to go. You can have kadhi plain like a soup but the deadliest combination is to have it with kichadi. But we prefer and enjoy it with rice dishes such as methi mutter pulav, basic biryani, corn rice or mixed capsicum rice. We like to use leftover rice  with some veggies and make pulav with it (Namkeen Chawal). 

Ingredients:

(for kadhi)

2 tablespoon gram flour/besan

1 cup full fat yogurt /khatta dahi

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi powder

salt as per taste

(for tempering)

1 teaspoon mustard seeds/rai

1 teaspoon asefotida/hing

5-6 curry leaves/kadhi pata

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon blackpepper powder/kali mirch

1 small to medium bay leaf/tej patta

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder/lal mirch powder.

Method:

Mix gram flour, water, yogurt, salt and turmeric properly. Make sure there are no lumps. If needed sieve the mixture.

Put this mixture on kadai/wok and cook on high flame. Keep stirring till the kadhi starts to boil. Turn the slow to low and cook till kadhi is thick.

Prepare the tempering. Heat oil in a pan. When oil gets hot, add mustard seeds. Let it crackle.

Add aseofetida, curry leaves and bay leaf.

Finally mix in red chilli powder and black pepper. Turn off the heat.

Put this hot tempering (tadka) on the kadhi. Mix and serve.

Notes:

Make sure that you keep stirring the kadhi till it comes to boil, else the kadhi will curdle.

You can also add garlic and ginger in the tempering.

Serving suggestion:

Goes well with all rice dishes. Methi mutter pulav, pulav or capsicum rice.

Have it as it is like a soup on a rainy or wintery day.

Serve as a main dish with parathas .