Gujarati Kadhi and Makai na Bhajia

What is Gujarati Kadhi?

Gujarati kadhi is a very famous, and comforting Gujarati dish, that is made with yogurt, and gram flour. It is sweet, sour, spicy, ever so slightly bitter in taste, and tempered beautifully with whole spices. There are no dry spices in the quintessential kadhi. It is NOT pronounced as “curry”, so please do not make this mistake :). Kadhi was an essential part of our meal, atleast thrice a week in our home. Given the preference of kadhi or Gujarati Daal, I prefer the Kadhi any day.

What are the origins of this Kadhi?

Kadhi originated in Rajasthan, and has taken several forms throughout the country of India. Gujaratis have their Gujarati kadhi, which is light, and made with churned buttermilk or chaas. Punjabis have their thicker version of Kadhi, where they use turmeric in it, and put pakoras in it. South Indian’s have their own version of Kadhi called Kuzhambu.

What is Gujarati Kadhi eaten with?

In Gujarat, kadhi is typically eaten with khichdi, and is meant to be a light meal, or when you have an upset stomach. It was one of my favorite meals, along with bateta nu shaak or potato curry. An all time favorite combination. Khichdi-kadhi along with bajra na rotla, and green marcha is an awesome combination too, and one that was my mother’s favorite! I remember these meals, and it reminds me of my days at home, eating my mother’s home cooked food.

Ingredients of the Gujarati Kadhi

The ingredients of the Gujarati Kadhi are:

• Plain whole milk yogurt : You can also use Greek yogurt, but will have to add more water since Greek yogurt is thicker than regular yogurt
• Besan or chickpea flour
• Water
• Green chillies
• Ginger
• Table salt
• Ghee
• Whole spices : like cinnamon, cloves, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds
• Asafoetida
• Curry leaves
• Green chillies
• Dried red chillies
• Brown sugar or grated jaggery

How to prepare Gujarati Kadhi?

Gujarati kadhi is really very easy to prepare. Yogurt, along with water, gram flour, green chilli, ginger and salt are put in a high speed blender, and blended till smooth. The next step is tempering whole spices, such as mustard seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon, curry leaves, whole dried red chillies, asafoetida, and fenugreek seeds in ghee.

The ghee gives an amazing aroma to the kadhi, which is heavenly and a must! Once the spices begin to temper, add the yogurt mixture into the spices, along with jaggery or brown sugar(if you cannot find jaggery), and keep mixing the kadhi for 15-20 straight minutes, in a figure 8 formation.

It is truly a hand workout, but one that is so worth it. The dish does not take time at all. The color of the kadhi starts off as white, and as you keep stirring and cooking the kadhi, you will see the color change gradually from white to an off white, almost pale yellow color. You will start smelling the wonderful aromas, and I bet your palette will be hungry.

How to prepare the Makai na Bhajia (or corn fritters)?

I made these wonderful makai na bhaji or corn fritters to go with it. It is not common to have it together. Makai na bhajia is made separately. I made it with whole corn and crushed corn, since corn has been in season so far. As we have entered fall, I am seeing less corn though.

How are the Makai na Bhajias made?

These bhajias are made with gram flour and rice flour, spices and corn. They come together fairly quickly and are highly addictive! Let me know if you can just stop at one. I love the combination of these bhajias, kadhi and the cumin rice, and hence I really wanted to post this recipe!

Hope you get a chance to make it, and enjoy this wonderful, heart warming, cozy dish that is actually perfect for fall and winter.

Can I prepare the Makai na Bhajia with frozen corn?

You could make these bhajias with frozen corn too. But there is nothing like using fresh, in season corn.

What kind of chickpea flour and rice flour should I use for the Gujarati Kadhi and Makai na Bhajia?

You want to get besan or channa flour or chickpea flour from an Indian store. You can also get it from Amazon linked here.

I get the rice flour from the Indian store as well. You can also get it from Amazon linked here.

Both these flours are required for the Gujarati Kadhi and Makai na Bhajia.

How can you store the leftovers of the Gujarati Kadhi and  Makai na Bhajia?

The Gujarati Kadhi and Makai na Bhajia should be both stored separately in the fridge in a closed container. Reheat both separately and you can serve some bhajias with the kadhi and some rice.

Other Gujarati dinner ideas that are on my blog are:

• Tindora nu Shaak
• Bharela Bhinda nu Shaak
• Zucchini Theplas

If you do make this recipe, please tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave a comment on this blog post.

XO
Amisha

Gujarati Kadhi and Makai na Bhajia

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• Amisha Gurbani

Gujarati Kadhi and Makai na Bhajia is essentially a spiced yogurt soup with corn fritters. The Gujarati kadhi is essentially made with buttermilk (watered down yogurt drink), chickpea flour to thicken it slightly, ginger, green chili, and tempered in ghee with whole spices like cinnamon, cloves, whole dried red chillies, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and sweetened with jaggery or brown sugar. It has no dry spice powders and it takes a mere 20 min to make it. My favorite way to eat it is with vegetable pulao or jeera rice(cumin rice) and pickles. I served it here with corn fritters which are vegan and gluten free and are super addictive. Leftovers can be stored separately in the fridge for upto two days.

Serves 4

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Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

Makai na bhajia

• 2/3 cup (80 gms) besan or chickpea flour
• 4 tablespoons rice flour (52 gms)
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (washed and patted dry)
• 1 cup (142 gms) corn kernels, coarsely ground in a high speed blender
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup (143 gms) corn kernels
• A pinch of baking soda
• Oil for frying

Gujarati Kadhi

• 500 gms plain whole milk yogurt
• 1/2 cup besan or chickpea flour
• 2 1/2 cups (590 gms) water
• 2 green chillies
• 1 inch ginger
• 2 teaspoons table salt
• 2 tablespoons ghee
• 6 cloves
• 1/2 stick cinnamon broken into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• A pinch of asafoetida
• 8 curry leaves
• 2 green chillies
• 2–3 dried red chillies
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar or 2 tablespoons jaggery

Garnish

• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

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Method:

Makai na bhajia

1. In a medium bowl, combine the besan, rice flour, red chilli powder, salt, turmeric and cilantro. Whisk to combine.
2. Add the crushed corn kernels and the whole corn kernels, and lightly cover with the dry mixture.
3. Slowly add the water and using a rubber spatula, mix the mixture. Add ⅓ cup water first (of the ½ cup water). The mixture should be thick and not watery. It should be a thick batter. If it’s too dry, add the remaining water and mix again. Add a pinch of baking soda. Mix again, set it aside.
4. In a medium dutch oven or medium saucepan, add the oil. On medium to high heat, let the oil temperature come up to 350 degrees F. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes. Add a ½ tsp of the corn mixture into the oil, if it immediately rises to the top, you know that the oil is hot enough. Else wait for another minute or so.
5. Keep a plate with parchment paper on the side. Using a 1 tablespoon ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop batter into the hot oil gently. Drop about 4 to 5 at a time into the oil. It will fry for about a minute on one side, and then turn it over with the spider tool, and let it brown for another 30 seconds. Then remove it onto the plate.
6. Repeat the process with the remaining batter. You will get about 35 to 50 bhajias. Set it aside to cool. It tastes really good as is, slightly hot with some cilantro chutney and ketchup.

Gujarati Kadhi

1. In a high speed blender, add the yogurt, chickpea flour, green chilli, ginger, salt, and water and blend until smooth.
2. In a medium to large pot, on medium heat, add the ghee and heat up to a minute. Add the spices for tempering like cumin seeds, mustard seeds, asafoetida, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, cloves, cinnamon, dried red chillies and let splatter for 30 to 40 seconds.
3. Next, add the yogurt mixture into the tempering. Do this step carefully because the spices can splatter everywhere. Add the brown sugar or jaggery to the kadhi.
4. This step is important. Continuously stir the kadhi with a spatula in a number 8 shape, for the next 15 minutes. It will come to a boil after 7 to 8 minutes of stirring the kadhi. The kadhi will come to a boil at the top of the pot, and then eventually subside and keep boiling. Keep stirring for the whole 15 minutes to ensure a smooth, even texture for the kadhi.
5. The kadhi is done after 15 minutes. Garnish with cilantro, and enjoy with some corn bhajias in it, while it is piping hot, with some delicious Cumin Rice or Vegetable Pulao.

PRO-TIP:

1. If you prefer a thinner texture of the kadhi, you can add ½ cup more water to the texture while stirring.

2. Kadhi can be stored in the fridge in a closed container. It thickens as it cools, so add a bit of water when reheating it.

3. It can be kept in the fridge for upto 2 days. But it is best eaten the day of.

4. Kadhi can be had by itself as soup as well.

5. Keep the corn bhajias separate and serve only as many as required, along with the rice and kadhi.

Notes

Frequently asked questions

• Can I prepare the Makai na Bhajia with frozen corn?

• • You could make these bhajias with frozen corn too. But there is nothing like using fresh, in season corn.

• What kind of chickpea flour and rice flour should I use for the Gujarati Kadhi and Makai na Bhajia?

• • You want to get besan or channa flour or chickpea flour from an Indian store. You can also get it from Amazon linked here.
  • I get the rice flour from the Indian store as well. You can also get it from Amazon linked here.
  • Both these flours are required for the Gujarati Kadhi and Makai na Bhajia.

• How can you store the leftovers of the Gujarati Kadhi and  Makai na Bhajia?

• • The Gujarati Kadhi and Makai na Bhajia should be both stored separately in the fridge in a closed container. Reheat both separately and you can serve some bhajias with the kadhi and some rice.