Pakori ki Kadhi (Yogurt Curry)

Kadhi is my son's absolute favorite Indian dish.  He likes it sour in the traditional way that my husband's family eats it.  Served hot with Pakoras and over rice, this delicious dish is easy to make and doesn't break the bank either!  

For the Kadhi (Yogurt Curry)

• 2 tbsp chickpea flour (Besan)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, or 1/2 tsp cumin powder (Jeera)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds (rai)
• 1 pinch asafoetida (hing) - optional
• 6 curry leaves 
• 1 tub (pint) of thick or greek style yogurt
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp tumeric (haldi)
• 1/2- 1 tsp salt
• water (I fill the pint tub of yogurt up twice and dump that in)

I typically dump all ingredients, except the curry leaves into my thermomix, mix well, and then add in the leaves.  In this way, the leaves are easily removable when serving.  It does not hurt to add them in before mixing, just know that your not supposed to eat them.  

After a quick mix on speed 3 for about 5 seconds, I set the temperature on my thermomix to 80C / 175F and cook it for 30-60 minutes.  It really only needs about 5 minutes to cook, but it will not burn in the thermomix and the time I set depends on what else I am doing and how long the rice or pakoras will take to cook.  I can always turn it off when I am ready to serve.

Don't have besan?  Feel tree to grind about 3 heaping tbsp dried chickpeas into powder!

I use my thermomix to make the curry, because I'm lazy and don't want to stir all the time, but this can easily be made on the stovetop.  Just make sure to stir constantly until after the mixture comes to a boil, or the yogurt will separate.

For the Pakora's

• 1 cup besan (you can grind dried chickpeas for this too!)
• 1 tsp cumin powder 
• 1 tsp dried or fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp baking powder
• salt (to taste, or about 1 tsp)
• water
• oil (for frying)

Once your dry mix is in the bowl, give it a good mix.  Then, very slowly, add water until the mixture is just past the consistency of creamy peanut butter.

This is the consistency that I end up with.

Add your oil to the pan and turn it on high.

You want your oil to be super hot.  If it’s not hot enough, the pakoras will absorb the oil, I stead of just cooking in it.  Drop a tiny bit of batter into the oil and wait until it rises and starts to sizzle before trying to cook in it.

Drop the batter into the oil in small balls.  They will round out as they cook.  Don’t make them too big or you risk not cooking the inside thoroughly.  Make sure you turn at least once to get uniform cooking and color throughout. 

Fish out with a slotted spoon and drop into absorbant towels.  We like ours dropped into our kadhi while it’s cooking, but we seem to eat 1/2 of them before they make it to the kadhi pan.

Serve over rice and enjoy!