If you’ve ever had Kadhi Chawal (pronounced “Kar-dhi Chow-al”), you’ll know it’s very different from the standard Indian restaurant fare. It’s almost never served in Indian restaurants, and that’s probably because it requires the care only a home cook could give. Kardhi Chawal wouldn’t scale in the large quantities that need to be available at a restaurant’s moment’s notice — even though it’s actually quite easy to make.
Kardhi Chawal is wonderfully tart and earthy with a satisfying warmth. It coats your tummy and offers the same probiotics of any good yogurt - makes you feel good. This is an especially welcome dish on a cold, rainy day in Northern California or an icy, snowy day of the midwest or northeast. The coldest months in India are December and January — a good time for Kardhi Chawal.
The foundation of this dish is yogurt and chick pea flour (“besan” in Hindi, and also known as “gram flour”). It’s actually very simple. Mix 1-1/2 cups of yogurt with 3 cups of water. Add turmeric, garam masala, and salt. Fry cumin seeds, curry leaves, hing, ginger, and garlic with onions to a light brown. Combine and heat to boil. Stir, stir, stir….and stir some more. Simmer. And stir, stir…stir. Then, finally, make some pakoras (crispy, deep-fried vegetable fritters), and mix them in. Enjoy.
Sounds simple, right?
It is. But Kadhi Chawal is one of those simple yet labor intensive recipes that nobody will ever do, unless your love language is feeding people. Maybe you’re about to welcome your kids or another special someone home and you have a few hours before they arrive to make this labor-of-love, two-part dish. Kadhi Chawal, kind of like paneer, is often seen as a special dish for special guests.
Part 1 is actually very easy — the Kadhi. Part 2, however, the pakoras, is a labor intensive and messy job. You’d have to mix a besan-based batter, ball-up a bunch of diced onions mixed with spinach, and then deep fry those hush-puppy like babies. You’d have to drain excess oil from those fried balls of love and then incorporate with the Part 1 Kadhi as a final step before serving.
Kadhi Chawal is pretty great, but there’s NO WAY I’m going to do all of that, and I’m betting you won’t either. But with an EasyIndianFood kitchen hack you can actually turn Kadhi Chawal into an easy weeknight meal like I did. Part 1 is a half-hour’s job. It’s Part 2 that’s the problem. After I fed her and the kids my Kadhi Chawal the other night, my wife said, “This is so good. It doesn’t taste like anything else - feels like something new. Let’s work it into out weekly rotation.”
Sounds like a win to me. I’ll take it! Watch the video to see the hack! (Hint: it begins at 9:01)….
Until next time!
Vivek
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