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While I’m not a huge fan of kadhi, the only time I enjoyed having it was outside our local gurudwara. Every Gurupurab, the holy shrine would be brightly lit with strings of electric lights, candles and diyas. The melodious kirtan (holy chanting) would add to the serenity of the whole affair. As kids, the biggest driving factor to take my sister and I to the gurudwara would be the langar that was served right after the ardaas. Huge stalls called pandals would be setup outside the premises of the gurudwara and it was just impossible to escape the aroma of piping hot samosas, bread pakoras and kadhi chawal (kadhi rice). My sister and I would queue up immediately after lighting the candles along the walls of the gurudwara, waiting to grab a plateful of kadhi chawal (we would ask for extra pakoras back then). Onion fritters dunked in a smooth slurry of yoghurt and buttermilk was the treat we relished a lot. That was my idea of kadhi for the longest time until I discovered many others.
Kadhi Kadhi Ki Baat
Reading up about food and exploring its origins made me realize that what I had been having all these years was actually Punjabi Kadhi. The thickness and creaminess of this kadhi along with pyaaz pakoras is quite different from say, the way kadhi is prepared in Gujarat or Rajasthan. In the latter, you will find a smooth texture of the kadhi, leaving a velvety after-taste in your mouth. Fennel and coriander are generally used to add subtle flavours to it.
Buttermilk is extensively used in Rajasthani cuisine, given the dry state of the region and has great cooling properties. Kadhi is also prepared using buttermilk, fennel and asafoetida, and chickpea plays a major role in it. Instead of the onion fritters, papad, mangode, pithore and many other interesting things can be found in a Rajasthani kadhi.
Maharashtrian cuisine also has its own type of kadhi, which is seasonal in terms of recipe and ingredients. Hot spices are kept to a minimum in the summer season, limited to ginger, curry leaves and asafoetida. It is called kadhi shengole where shengole are the pasta-like elements made from gram flour and added to the buttermilk and yoghurt curry.
Gujarati kadhi has the most number of variations. From a khatti savoury kadhi made with green mangoes that is a summer favourite to a meethi kadhi of ripe mangoes and sugar or jaggery, there is an abundance of regional variations when it comes to Gujarati kadhis. Some make it with toor dal while others like the Kathiyawadis add tomatoes for tartness. The concept of adding fritters to these kadhis is relatively an uncommon practice. Instead, vegetables like spinach, dill and many others are added to the curry.
However, Sindhi kadhi takes a totally different path wherein the sole ingredient for making the dish i.e. buttermilk/yoghurt is not used. Anything from amchur to kokum and lime juice are used as souring agents. You must be wondering if kadhi is only a North-Indian affair in the country. That is not true because the closest version of kadhi is paruppu urrundai mor kuzhambu. This is a rice flour-thick curry where lentil dumplings replace the kadhi pakora.
Our country is replete with kadhis, and here I was thinking that we could only have pakore wali kadhi!
