Paalak Kadhi

There are some days when you just don’t want to go the daily roti - sabzi - dal route. I love rice (that’s kind of obvious I guess, what with being a Tam-Bram & all)! And some days I have a hankering to eat a simple rice based meal. On one such day, I decided to make kadhi chawal.

Kadhi is a yogurt and chickpea flour based gravy dish. There are different kinds of Kadhi’s – you have the Punjabi kadhi (ooh for some kadhi pakoris), the Gujarati kadhi (served with the quintessential khichdi) and the Sindhi kadhi (this one is a more elaborate mixed vegetable based one). You can think of it as a cousin of the South Indian Mor Khuzambu!

The simplest of kadhi’s I have ever eaten was one my mom used to make when in hurry – but that one is for another day and another post. Today I am going to write about my Paalak/Spinach Kadhi.

Preparation & Cooking: 15 minutes                        Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

Onion – 1 small (finely chopped)

Spinach – 1 small bunch (approximately 2 cups chopped)

Cilantro – a handful (finely chopped)

Green chillies – 4 small (can reduce the number if you prefer mild food) (ground into a paste)

Ginger – 1 small piece

Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon

Carom seeds (Ajwain/Omam) – ½ teaspoon

Red chillies – 2-3

Curry leaves – a few

Asafoetida (Hing) – a pinch

Chickpea flour (Besan/Kadalai Maavu) – 2 tablespoons

Turmeric – ½ teaspoon

Yogurt – 1 cup

Water – 1 cup

Sour cream – 2 teaspoons

Oil – 2 tablespoons

Salt- to taste

Method:

1.       In a pan, heat the oil. Add the cumin seeds, carom seeds, curry leaves, red chillies and asafetida.

2.       Once the seeds splutter, add the chopped onions and sauté them till the turn translucent.

3.       Now add the green chilli paste along with the chopped spinach and cilantro.

4.       Make a smooth mix of yogurt, water, sour cream, chickpea flour, and turmeric. Pour this into the pan.

5.       Keep the flame low and let this simmer until it begins to boil and thicken, stirring off and on. Now take it off the flame. Kadhi is ready to be served. It is best served hot with rice.

Handy Tip: Keeping the gas on a low flame and stirring prevents the yogurt from curdling. I added sour cream because I did not have any sour yogurt on hand. You may replace the yogurt & sour cream with just plain yogurt that has turned sour or even with butter milk.

Sending this to Lisa's A Celebration of Indian Food and a Giveaway - Part Two
and  Kiran’s  ”Cooking with Whole Foods – Spinach” event guest hosted by Vardhini at