Punjabi kadhi pakora is the perfect vegetarian comfort food from North India. Chickpea flour fritters (pakoras) are dipped in a thick and tangy yogurt sauce (kadhi), and the kadhi is served with white Basmati rice for a complete meal called kadhi chawal (rice).
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About Punjabi Kadhi Pakora
When it comes to comfort foods from North India, nothing can beat recipes like sarson ka saag and makki ki roti, rajma chawal, dal makhani, and of course, kadhi chawal (kadhi served with rice). These are hearty and rustic Punjabi dishes that will appeal to anyone with a sense of adventure.
I am not from Punjab (an Indian state where people thrive on dishes made with real butter, ghee, paneer and yogurt), but I adore the food. Sort of inevitable after having spent my teenage years in New Delhi, a city where the food scene has a rather strong Punjabi influence.
Anyway, making something like Punjabi kadhi is not the big deal I thought it was back then. It has a lot of ingredients and steps, for sure, but I have tried to make this post as comprehensive as possible. Hopefully, you will not run into any issues if you read the post and follow all the steps:)
The recipe can be broken down into four broad sections:
1. Fry the pakoras.
2. Make the buttermilk mixture.
3. Make the kadhi and add the pakoras.
3. Temper the kadhi pakora.
I have further broken down these sections into ingredients needed for each section along with step by step instructions and pictures, so there is no confusion. However, what follows is an overview. For detailed steps, please go to the recipe card.
Note: If you love tangy vegetarian dishes, do try Kashmiri dum aloo, Punjabi dum aloo, and Hyderabadi bagara baingan too.
Pakora ingredients
Ingredient Notes And Substitutions
1. Cooking oil: I used mustard oil for frying the pakoras as it is a wonderfully spicy and flavourful oil, and once you've had a taste, every other oil will seem bland in comparison. That being said, it is not absolutely essential. You can make your kadhi with any neutral oil too with perfectly good results. If you decide to use mustard oil, you will need to smoke it first to get rid of the sharp, raw taste. More on this below.
2. Crushed coriander seeds (optional): Again, not absolutely essential for the pakoras, but they do give a nice edge to them. Don't add too much because you have powdered coriander in there as well. One teaspoon of coriander seeds should be enough. Toast the seeds in a small frypan before crushing them in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. It takes their rawness away.
3. Buttermilk: Buttermilk adds to the taste of the pakoras although you can use plain water as well. But since we are making this recipe with buttermilk, I used it to make the batter for the pakoras too.
How to make the pakoras
1. Smoke the mustard oil.
Tip: You will want to switch on the exhaust fan in your kitchen and open a few windows to get rid of the fumes after you're done smoking the oil.
2. Chop the onions and green chillies in a food processor if you have one. It's easier to do this than chop them by hand.
3. Toast the coriander seeds and grind them coarsely in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
4. Put all the ingredients (except the oil) in a bowl and whisk to make a batter.
Note: The batter should be quite thick and chunky and not thin. Thin batter makes flat pakoras.
5. Fry the pakoras in hot oil and take them out in a platter. Set aside for now.
Note: Reserve ⅓ cup of oil for using in the kadhi later.
Buttermilk mixture ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
1. Buttermilk: I used buttermilk for making the liquid base because buttermilk is a little tangy and sour to begin with. You can substitute it with plain, unflavoured yogurt (dahi) as well if you have some. If using yogurt, thin it out with water first. One and a half cups of yogurt mixed with 3 cups water should be fine.
Tip: If using yogurt, make sure it is sour before using it. Kadhi is supposed to be a little tangy and is traditionally made with sour yogurt.
How to make the buttermilk mixture
Making the buttermilk mixture is simple. Add the chickpea flour and the spices (red chilli and turmeric) to the buttermilk and whisk until you get a lump-free, smooth sauce. If it has lumps, the kadhi will also have lumps. Not nice.
Tip: Sift the chickpea flour through a sieve or chalni first. Sifted flour is easier to work with.
Kadhi ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Grated onions: If grating onions is too painful, leave them out! Just the ginger-garlic paste will also suffice. If I am in a hurry, I make do without the onions, and the kadhi tastes fine.
How to make the kadhi
We do this in three steps:
1. First, in hot oil, sizzle the spices and add the onions, ginger and garlic.
2. Second, pour the buttermilk mixture that was made earlier and simmer until the sauce is cooked thoroughly.
3. Third, add the pakoras to the prepared kadhi. Once this is done, we can proceed with the final tempering.
Tempering ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
1. Ghee: I like using pure ghee for its aroma. You can substitute it with any neutral cooking oil if you wish to.
2. Mustard seeds and curry leaves (kari patta): These add a ton of flavour and fragrance to the kadhi. If, however, you don't have these ingredients, you can substitute with dry red chillies and cumin seeds too.
How to temper the kadhi
1. Heat the ghee in a small frypan and add the tempering ingredients.
2. When the mustard seeds start popping, pour this spice-infused oil carefully over the kadhi and serve hot with steamed rice.
Top Tips
1. If using yogurt instead of buttermilk, opt for plain yogurt only. Do NOT use flavored or sweetened yogurt.
2. Ideally, the yogurt should be slightly sour for best results. Yogurt sitting in the fridge for a few days is usually sour. Use this yogurt, not the fresh one you got from the supermarket today.
3. While making the batter for the pakoras, don't add too much buttermilk or water, too suddenly. The aim is to make a thick batter so that the pakoras turn out round and plump. Whisk some buttermilk into the ingredients, check the consistency, then whisk again till it's just right.
4. Fry the pakoras in medium-hot oil to cook them well from inside. If the oil is smoking hot, the pakoras will brown on the outside quickly but remain under-cooked inside. Also, don't crowd the pakoras in the hot oil or the temperature will drop.
5. Top Tip: Stir constantly while bringing the sauce to a boil on the stovetop. This is the secret to a smooth sauce. If you don't do this properly, the chickpea flour in the yogurt will form lumps, or worse, the yogurt itself will curdle. Not very appealing. To avoid this, keep stirring!
Serving and Reheating
1. Kadhi tastes best with steamed Basmati rice. This is a very popular combination called kadhi chawal.
2. However, you can have kadhi with Indian breads like roti or chapati also. Who's to say you can't, after all?
3. Leftover kadhi can become quite thick when kept in the fridge. While reheating, simply add a little water and cook over the stovetop for a few minutes. It will become smooth again.
More Vegetarian Rice Recipes
Tried this recipe? Do consider giving it a star rating and comment below. If you’re on Instagram, feel free to tag me so I can see your creation! I’d love to hear from you! Thank you:)
📖 Recipe
Punjabi Kadhi Pakora
Equipment
- Medium-sized Pyrex bowl
- Wire whisk or fork
- Wok or Karahi for frying the pakoras
- Large saucepan
- Small frypan for tempering
Ingredients
Pakoras
- mustard oil or vegetable oil, as needed for frying
- 1 onion small
- 2 Thai chillies or any variety of green chilli if you want less hot.
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds optional
- 1 cup chickpea flour besan
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- ½ cup buttermilk
Buttermilk mixture
- 4 cups buttermilk
- ½ cup chickpea flour besan, sifted
- 2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
Kadhi
- ⅓ cup mustard oil or vegetable oil
- ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds methi
- 4 teaspoon dried red chillies
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds toasted and crushed
- 2 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste heaped
- 1 small onion grated or minced, optional
- 4 cups water
- 1 tsp sea salt
Tempering
- 2 tablespoon ghee or vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 12 curry leaves
Instructions
Fry the pakoras
- First, smoke the mustard oil. Pour the oil in a metal saucepan or frypan and heat it until it reaches smoking point. When it starts giving off slight fumes and changes its colour to a pale yellow, it's done. Turn off the heat and allow the oil to cool down before using it. If not using mustard oil, omit this step.
- Chop the onions and green chillies in a food processor if you have one. It's easier to do this than chop them by hand. If not, chop them finely with a sharp knife.
- Put the coriander seeds in a small frypan and toast them until fragrant (2-3 minutes). Grind them coarsely in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. If not using coriander seeds, omit this step.
- Add the chickpea flour to a bowl along with the rest of the ingredients except the oil. Mix well. The batter should be quite thick and chunky.
- Heat the oil in a skillet or karahi (Indian wok) and drop teaspoonfuls of batter in the oil. Fry over a medium heat until golden. Remove from the hot oil and set aside.
Make the buttermilk mixture
- Add the chickpea flour, turmeric powder and red chilli powder to the buttermilk. Whisk well so that the mixture is smooth and lump-free,
Make the kadhi
- Heat the mustard oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan and add the fenugreek seeds, dried red chillies, cumin seeds, ad crushed coriander seeds. Let the spices sizzle for a few seconds.
- Add the ginger garlic paste and cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the onion paste if using and cook until the onions have lost their moisture. Take care not to brown them.
- Reduce the heat and add the buttermilk mixture you prepared earlier cook until the mixture comes to a boil (about 20 minutes). Stir continuously in a circular motion with a wooden spoon.
- Add the water and salt and mix well. Cook uncovered on low heat for 40 minutes. Stir frequently to make sure the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom. When the liquid thickens and becomes a smooth sauce, the kadhi is cooked.
- Add the pakoras or fritters to the kadhi and cook for a couple of minutes on low heat so that the fritters absorb some of the sauce. Pour the kadhi in a deep serving dish.
Add the tempering (tadka)
- Heat the ghee in a small frypan and add mustard seeds. When the seeds start popping, add the curry leaves. Pour this spice-infused oil carefully over the kadhi. Serve hot with steamed rice.
Notes
- The batter for making the pakoras should be thick so that the pakoras turn out round and plump.
- Fry the pakoras in medium-hot oil to cook them well from inside.
- If using plain yogurt for making kadhi, make sure the yogurt is sour. Use 2 cups yogurt mixed with 3 cups water to start with.
- Stir the sauce constantly while cooking it on the stovetop.
- Leftover kadhi can become quite thick when kept in the fridge. While reheating, simply add a little water and cook for a few minutes. It will become smooth again.
Thanks for coming! Let me know what you think: