Punjabi Kadhi Pakora

Kadhi is a patient dish and Punjab does not pretend otherwise. The curd and besan go into a heavy pot on a low flame and stay there for forty minutes, darkening from pale to a deeper yellow, thickening until it coats the back of the spoon, losing the raw smell of gram flour. Then the pakoras go in and start softening, soaking it up. It is eaten with plain steamed rice and nothing else on the plate, and that is a full lunch.

Wooden cold pressed groundnut oil is right for the pakoras. It holds frying heat steadily and stays clean through the batch, so they come out deep gold and light instead of heavy and oily, and it leaves a mild nutty taste rather than coating everything. The tadka at the end is Gir Cow's A2 Ghee with cumin and broken red chillies, and off the flame a pinch of our Stone Ground Red Chilli Powder goes in and turns it red without burning. That last spoon is the reason people remember a kadhi.

The one rule that is not optional: until the kadhi reaches its first proper rolling boil, stand there and keep stirring. Twelve to fifteen minutes of it. Walk away for one minute and the curd breaks into grains, and no amount of simmering afterwards will bring it back together.

How to make it

1. Whisk the curd in a big bowl till there is not a single lump. Add ½ cup besan a spoon at a time, whisking after each. Then pour in the water slowly, still whisking. The mix should be thin, like buttermilk. Strain it once through a sieve to catch any lumps.
2. Pour it into a heavy pot with the turmeric, red chilli powder, methi seeds and hing. Put it on medium and stir without stopping until it comes to a full rolling boil, about 12 to 15 minutes. Do not add salt yet and do not stop stirring.
3. Once it boils, lower the flame and let it simmer uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes. Stir every 4 or 5 minutes and scrape the base. The kadhi will darken to a deeper yellow, thicken to the coat of a spoon, and lose its raw besan smell. Add the salt now.
4. While it simmers, make the pakoras. Mix 1 cup besan with the onion, green chilli, ajwain, baking soda and a little salt. Add water 1 tbsp at a time and beat with your fingers into a thick batter that just drops off the spoon.
5. Heat the groundnut oil in a kadhai on medium. Test it with a drop of batter, it should rise up steadily in 3 to 4 seconds, not shoot to the top. Drop in spoonfuls of batter and fry 4 to 5 minutes, turning, till deep golden all over. Drain on a rack.
6. Slide the pakoras into the simmering kadhi and cook another 6 to 8 minutes. Do not stir hard now, just move the pot. They soften as they soak, and they will keep drinking the kadhi as it stands.
7. For the tadka, heat the ghee in a small pan till it shimmers. Add the cumin and let it darken and crackle, then the broken red chillies for 10 seconds. Switch off and add a pinch of red chilli powder to the hot ghee.
8. Pour the tadka over the kadhi. Let it sizzle without stirring it in. Scatter coriander on top and serve hot with plain steamed rice.

Tips

• Storage: keeps 3 days in the fridge and tastes better on day two. It thickens a lot when cold, so loosen it with hot water while reheating and give it a fresh tadka.
• Curd not sour enough? Leave it out of the fridge overnight, or stir in ½ tsp amchur after the kadhi is cooked. Sweet curd makes a flat kadhi.
• Fry the pakoras on medium heat, not high. High heat browns the outside while the besan inside stays raw and pasty.
• If your kadhi still splits, whisk 1 tbsp besan into 3 tbsp cold water and stir that in, then simmer 10 minutes. It will not be perfect, but it pulls back together.
• Strain the leftover frying oil once it cools, and use it within a week for the next batch of pakoras or a sabzi.