Kadhi pakoda is one of my all-time favorite dishes. Even though it originated in the Indian state, these days different variations of this dish are made in almost every part of India. Traditionally, chickpea fritters are deep fried and added to the yogurt-based gravy. In the Indian states of Gujrat and Maharashtra, this dish was modified, and the fritters were cooked in the yogurt gravy instead of being deep fried separately. Therefore, the recipe below presents is healthier version of the traditional Punjabi recipe. It is a total comfort food with served with a bowl of hot steamed white rice.
Serves 4
For making the fritters (pakoda)
1 cup chickpea (gram) flour
2 tbsp yogurt, heaped
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp salt, adjust to taste
¼ tsp asafetida
¼ tsp red chilli powder. Use Deghi or Kashmiri chilli powder
½ tsp coriander powder
2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp coriander seeds, heaped
1 tsp cumin seeds, heaped
½ tsp fennel seeds
1-inch ginger, peeled and grated
½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp vegetable oil
For making the yogurt gravy (kadhi)
2 tbsp chickpea (gram) flour
1 cup yogurt
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp salt, adjust to taste
¼ tsp asafetida
¼ tsp red chilli powder. Use Deghi or Kashmiri chilli powder
1-inch ginger, roughly chopped
12 curry leaves
2 green chillies, slit
3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 dried red chilli, broken into three pieces. I used Kashmiri chilli
1 small tomato, roughly chopped into 8-12 pieces
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves, crushed
1 To make the fritters (pakoda), in a bowl, mix 1 cup chickpea flour, 2 tbsp yogurt, ½ tsp turmeric powder, ½ tsp salt (adjust to taste), ¼ tsp asafetida, ¼ tsp red chilli powder and ½ tsp coriander powder and make a thick batter.
2 Heat a pan on medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add 1 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds and ½ tsp fennel seeds to the pan and roast them while stirring or tossing them continuously, about 2 minutes. Make sure that you do not burn the seeds. You can hold the pan a couple of inches over the heat source while stirring or tossing them. Once the seeds are roasted, grind them coarsely using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
3 Add almost all the mixture of ground coriander, cumin and fennel seeds to the batter in step 1 while reserving about ¼ tsp of it (to be used in the next step). Also, add the chopped coriander leaves and grated ginger to the batter. Continue to mix well to incorporate the ground seeds, coriander leaves and ginger into the batter. Set aside.
4 In a bowl, mix 1½ tbsp chickpea flour, 1 cup yogurt, ½ tsp turmeric powder, ½ tsp salt (adjust to taste), ¼ tsp asafetida, ¼ tsp red chilli powder and ¼ tsp of the mixture of ground coriander, cumin and fennel seeds (reserved in step3). Add 3 cups of water and mix well using a whisk or a fork.
5 In a pan, heat 2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter) and 1 tbsp vegetable oil over medium high heat. When the oil is hot add ½ tsp cumin seeds, ¼ tsp fennel seeds and 1 tsp mustards seeds. After the seeds splutter, about 5-10 seconds, add the curry leaves, roughly chopped ginger and the slit green chillies. Reduce the flame to medium and sauté for about half a minute.
6 Add yogurt mixture from step 4 gradually to the pan while stirring continuously. After adding the mixture to the pan, whisk for about 30 seconds. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low.
7 Add ½ tsp baking soda to 2 tsp vegetable oil and mix. Add this to the batter created in step 3 and mix well.
8 Start making 1-inch balls from the batter and adding them to the simmering yogurt mixture in from step 6. After all the batter balls are in the yogurt mixture, cover the pan and let it cook for about 12 minutes on low heat. Do not stir with a spoon as it will break the batter balls. You can gentle shake the pan over the heat a couple of times so that the fritters move in the yogurt mixture and cook uniformly.
9 Heat 1½ tbsp of the ghee in a small frying pan over medium high heat. When the ghee is hot add the broken red chilli and the chopped tomato to the ghee. Stir continuously for about 20 seconds. Add this tempering to the pan with the fritters and yogurt gravy from step 8. Remove the pan from heat and gently stir.
Garnish the dish with crushed dried fenugreek leaves. Serve the fritter yogurt curry (kadhi pakoda) with hot steamed white rice.
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