Punjabi Kadhi Pakora with Jeera Rice~Indian State Punjab

Punjabi Kadhi  Pakora with Jeera Rice~Indian State Punjab

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Punjabi Kadhi Pakora

• 2 cups besan/gram flour
• 1 cup water
• 4 medium sized onions, sliced
• 1 teaspoon ajwain/carom seeds
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
• ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
• A pinch of asafoetida/hing/asafoetida

• Curd made from half a litre of milk
• 1 cup besan/gram flour
• 3 ½ to 4 cups water
• 2 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 ½ teaspoon haldi/turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
• Salt to taste

• 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped (optional)
• 1 ½ tablespoon crushed ginger-garlic
• 1 teaspoon jeera/cumin seeds
• ¼ teaspoon methi/fenugreek seeds
• 2 sprig curry leaves
• 2 green chillis
• 1 or 2 dry red chillies (optional)
• 3 tablespoon ghee
• A pinch or two of hing/asafoetida

• Mix the onion slices with salt in a bowl and let it sit for some time. So that the onions release some water, say
  10-15 minutes.
• Next add gram flour/besan in the bowl with carom seeds, red chilli powder, garam masala powder to the bowl and
  mix well.
• Add little water I used about 2 tblspn of water as I wanted the pakodas crisp but wanted to fry them immediately. If
  you have the time mix the onions with the besan mixture and keep aside for some 20-30 minutes.
• After 20-30 minutes, the onions would have released enough water to make the batter liquid. If the batter still
  feels dry, then add some water to it. Check the salt and spices and add more if required.
• Heat oil for deep frying the pakoras.
• Fry the pakoras till they are crisp and browned.
• Drain on kitchen paper napkins or tissues.
• Keep the pakoras aside.

• In a big bowl add the curd. Whip it well to make it smooth and add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, salt and the gram flour/besan.
• Mix the spice powders with the curd, add water and mix the contents well.
• The reasons you need to whip well is there make sure there are no lumps.
• Use the back of a spoon to dissolve the lumps into the curds.  But I prefer the immersion mixer, but make sure you don’t overdo it. We do not want butter churned out of the curds.
• In a large deep pan, heat ghee splutter cumin seeds.
• Add chopped garlic, ginger, green chilli, add curry leaves and dry red chilli. Fry till the raw smell of the garlic ginger disappears.
• Switch the gas off and pour our liquid curd mixture stir the whole kadhi.
• Return it to low flame keep stirring bring it to a boil first and then simmer for 8-10 minutes.
• The kadhi is ready.
• Just before serving add the fried onion pakoras to the hot kadhi.
• Cover and close the pan and let the onion pakoras be soaked in the kadhi for some minutes.

Punjabi Kadhi  Pakora with Jeera Rice~Indian State Punjab

• Use sour curd. If the curd is not sour, then the kadhi will not be sour, but still tastes good. To make the curd sour, you could add amchoor powder whilst cooking the kadhi.
• Use mustard oil if possible to fry the onion pakoras and for tempering. Mustard oil lends a pungent sharp taste and flavor to the curry.
• You could also bake the pakoras instead of frying them.
• Don’t skip on curry leaves, as you will know that something is missing from the kadhi.
• Use good quality gram flour/besan
• The onion pakoras can be prepared before hand and kept aside.
• Use a large bottomed pot for cooking the kadhi. The curd mixture froths whilst cooking and can spill if you use a small pot.
• To make softer pakoras, add 2 or 3 tablespoon more water than mentioned in the recipe below. In this case, add the pakoras to the kadhi, just before serving.
• Some folks do not like the mushy and soft pakoras in the kadhi. In this case the pakoras can be a little hard. Add little or no water to the batter. The onion liquids does the job of moistening the batter.
• In this recipe I have not made the pakoras soft. Just added enough water to make the batter smooth but not liquidy. In this scenario, you could well add the pakoras just after the kadhi is ready. The pakoras won’t break when the kadhi is served later.