Kadhi and (No Fry) Pakoda for a Milestone

Remember my post on Palak Kadhi? This post is directly connected to that. Let me rephrase that. This post is a direct outcome of the comments that my namesakes, Arundathi and Arundati made on that post. One of them was happy that there was no deep frying and the other thought that fried koftas would have been nice. I couldn’t help remember this picture that was sent with some forward I received. But it got me thinking. For a week or so I thought about how I could have pakodas in my kadhi and yet avoid the pain of deep frying. Since S was traveling again, I had plenty of milk and curd in the house and decided to make kadhi yet again. I decided to make mixed vegetable pakodas to put in my kadhi.


So far, so good. But I didn’t want to heat oil to fry the pakodas. I did the next best thing. I brought out my appey kayli and made my “pakodas” in that. It tasted really nice and once the pakodas soak up the kadhi, you can’t tell that they weren’t fried. It is amazing what blogging does to you. One post and its comments led to my experiment and this way I can have my cake (err pakoda) and eat it too.

Pakodas (Dumplings):
2/3 cup Gram Flour
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 Onion, finely chopped
½ cup Mixed Vegetables, chopped and steamed
1 tsp Green Chilli Paste
2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped
Salt to Taste
A few drops of oil


Kadhi:
1 1/4 cups Curd/Yogurt
3 tbsp Gram Flour
2/3 cup Water
1 tsp Ginger Paste
1 tsp Garlic Paste
1 1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder

Tempering:
1 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
4 Red Chillies

To make the dumplings, mix the gram flour with the chilli powder, salt, baking soda, onions, mixed vegetables, green chilli paste, and coriander leaves. Add enough water to form a thick batter. Heat the appey patra and lightly oil the moulds. Drop a spoonful of the batter into each mould. Fry until golden brown, turning once and using a few drops of oil if necessary.

To make the kadhi, whisk the curds with the gram flour and water. Add all the spices and salt and mix well. Bring this mixture to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly.

For the tempering, heat the oil in a frying ladle and add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the red chillies and take off the flame.

To proceed:

Add the pakodas to the kadhi. Add the seasoning and serve hot with rice.

This experiment couldn’t have come at a better time. This is my 300th post and, in my opinion, it is extremely reflective of the essence of blogging and all its associated joys. Thank you all.