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FOR as long as I can remember, kadhi has been a weekly ritual at home. Walking back home with my maternal grandparents from where the school bus would drop me off, I would ask them the same question every single day: “Kya bana hai aaj khaane main? (What’s for lunch today?)”. My joy would know no bounds to find that it is Kadhi-Chawal Day. Though I love everything my amma (grandmother) cooks, I believe her kadhi-chawal and daal-chawal remain unmatched.
Be it a hot summer afternoon, or the sun-less ones of winters in Delhi, this glistening yellow gravy, cooked with gram flour and yoghurt, has never disappointed me. During summers, its yoghurt base acted as a coolant. In winters, a piping hot bowl of it provided me with much-needed warmth. Kadhi continues to indulge my senses.
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Kadhi-chawal is a staple dish enjoyed in its many versions across North India. If Punjab has given us the bright yellow-hued kadhi with vegetable pakodas and tempered with onion and garlic, Gujarat has churned out a relatively lighter version with sweet and sour notes. Another hugely popular version of kadhi comes from Sindh, which was once part of India. Sindhi kadhi eschews yoghurt and uses tamarind pulp instead to render a sour flavour. It has gram flour with a generous amount of vegetables thrown in.
This list grows longer with some sublime variations from Chhattisgarh (Dubki kadhi), Uttar Pradesh (Mangodi matar ki kadhi), Bihar (Kadhi badi), Gujarat (Saragva ni kadhi — with drumsticks), Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (Chala charu), Kerala (Moru curry) etc. To skip Rajasthan would be blasphemy, because that is where kadhi is believed to have originated. In the water-scarce but dairy-rich desert region, a dish suiting the local weather conditions was cobbled together with minimal ingredients. The ingenious Rajasthanis have come up with a variety of kadhis — Papad kadhi, Pithore (gram flour dumplings) kadhi, Kala chana (black gram) kadhi. They even churn out kadhis from desert shrubs and flowers!
Kaushik Ramaswamy, who runs Bela Gulab Juhi Champa Chameli, a home-catering service specialising in pan-Indian cuisine, says, “Kadhi is an extremely poignant expression of the culinary practices found in the subcontinent, particularly the North and West where the extreme temperatures of eight months makes it the right food for the weather. The birth of the kadhi and its popularity lies within the desire to deal with the extreme tropical heat of the subcontinent.”
The 15th century Indian cookbook Ni'matnama — penned by Ghiyath Shah, the ruler of Malwa — includes recipes for kadhi samosa, vada, khandvi, raita, dal and lassi, etc.
Food researcher and documentary filmmaker Ruchi Shrivastava dedicated an entire episode of her TV show Curries of India (2018) to kadhi. “We have been a dairy and agricultural country for centuries. Dairy was always in plenty and kadhi became a gradual means to consume leftover curd/ buttermilk. According to me, in various regions kadhi started as a recipe/process independent of influences from other popular kadhi consuming regions,” she observes.
Shrivastava’s research revealed that kadhi was probably born as “raab” in the region that today comprises Rajasthan and Haryana. “Buttermilk mixed with flour was left on coal embers to thicken overnight. It resulted in a very filling drink that also served as a coolant to survive the harsh sunlight of this belt. What is not known, is when besan (gram flour) was added in the kadhi,” she explains.
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Most Indian communities are fiercely proud of their version of kadhi. In my marital home, we alternate between Madhya Pradesh-style kadhi and the Mangodi-matar-aloo kadhi of the Chaturvedi community of Uttar Pradesh. If I find my velvety-textured kadhi with gram flour fritters first-rate, my husband can’t do without his kadhi that is graced with green gram badi, green peas and potato. The yoghurt-base in kadhi was thought to be non-negotiable until one learnt about Nimbu ki kadhi in which a particular community in Alwar replaces the dairy product with lime juice.
Ingredients are integral to a dish but kadhi aficionados will tell you that tempering is what uplifts and differentiates one kadhi from the other. A Garhwali version of kadhi uses jakhya (dog mustard) along with dry red chillies for tempering — or chhaunk, as it is known in North India.
Independent journalist Prachi Raturi Misra, who is recording the culinary traditions of Uttarakhand, discovered Jholi — the aforementioned Garhwali version of kadhi — rather late in life. “After I came to Delhi for higher studies and had Punjabi Pakoda kadhi, I learnt that back home we have something called Jholi in which soaked rice is ground and then slowly cooked with mattha. Once it is ready, it is tempered with jakhya and dry red chillies, and enjoyed with rice. Another kadhi like preparation is jhangora (barnyard millet) slow-cooked with mattha and spices like turmeric, salt and chilli powder. Once ready, this preparation is tempered the same way and enjoyed as a complete meal. I love this and carry jhangora back with me whenever I visit my parents in Mussoorie,” shares Misra.
For Chef Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar, it was during her student days in Delhi, when she lived in a locality called Rajouri Garden — a hub for the Punjabi community — that she developed an affinity for kadhi, specifically Punjabi kadhi pakoda. “During my evening walks, I used to collect recipes from the old ladies taking a stroll in the park and they would tell me how during tough times like the Partition, simple dishes like kadhi-chawal, rajma-chawal could be rustled up quickly, and had many versions to share.”
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Kadhi exemplifies comfort food that is relished with family on a regular day. From there, this flavoursome delicacy has leaped over to fancy chef-led restaurants. For instance, Chef Ritu Dalmia served kadhi to her guests at Spica, her second restaurant in Milan. Of course, there are several other dishes that have made their way onto the menus of posh eateries and in gourmet meals but with kadhi, it’s different. For a dish which is so loved but remains absent from functions, parties and auspicious occasions, to find favour in chic restaurants is intriguing.
Mulling over kadhi’s absence from celebrations, Shrivastava says, “The simplicity of kadhi could be the reason for it. Since it's made of buttermilk or curd mixed with water, barring in a few communities where it is made with wholesome curd, it is not served to the gods and hence not given importance on auspicious occasions. It could be the cultural association. In a few pinds (villages) of Punjab, kadhi is made after all the festivities are over at a wedding. It’s kind of a signal for guests to leave. In a few communities, kadhi is made post-mourning, as a sign to start getting back to normal life.”
Indian culinary traditions follow the concept of kacha khana (uncooked food) and paka khana (cooked food). And what it means is very different from the West. Kacha khana is any dish that is boiled first and then tempered. Kadhi, along with khichdi, daal, chawal, roti is part of this category. Kacha khana is more prone to contamination and hence eaten only for lunch.
Even though many hole-in-the-wall cafes and small road-side eateries across North India are found selling lip-smacking kadhi-chawal, it goes missing in the menus of more established/fine-dining eateries. Dastidar, who runs Edible Archives in Goa, feels “it’s difficult to sell kadhi in restaurants because it is perceived as very mundane, simple home-cooked dish”.
Perhaps a gravy cooked with gram flour, curd and water is too personal a dish to be served in a restaurant. Perhaps the most fitting milieu for it is this: a plateful of kadhi chawal or kadhi roti for lunch, sharing the old kadhi tales of your household, or creating new memories with family members.
Mangodi-matar ki kadhi
Ingredients
Gram flour - ½ cup
Moong mangodi - ½ cup
Green peas - ½ cup
Sour curd - 1 ½ cup
Oil - 3 tbsp
Heeng (asafoetida) - 1 to 2 pinch
Jeera (cumin seeds) - ½ tsp
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Red chilly powder - ½ tsp (add to taste)
Salt - 1 ½ tsp (add to taste)
Green coriander (dhaniya) - 1 tbsp
Method:
In a frying pan (or kadhai), heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Add moong dal mangodi and cook until light brown. Take out the mangodis and keep them aside.
Blend curd in a mixer. Add water to get a slightly thin consistency. Add gram flour to the blended curd and mix it well.
In a kadhai, pour two tbsp of oil and add hing, jeera and turmeric powder. Pour the gram flour mixture and keep stirring. Add the roasted mangodis and green peas. Reduce the heat and let it simmer. Ensure that besan is cooked thoroughly. Continue to stir on a low flame for 20 minutes. Once it has cooked thoroughly, you will see it covered with a layer of gram flour.
Put 1 tbsp of ghee in a seasoning pan, add red chilli powder and temper the kadhi. Add salt to taste. Garnish with fresh green coriander and serve it hot with rice or roti.
Photos courtesy, from top: Prachi Raturi Misra, Ruchi Shrivastava, Asith Mohan/Flickr, Easy Foodmaking/Flickr, Shailaja Tripathi