MenU; Blame The Weim-Bros

Over at Da Phenny and Da Nelly's crib yesterday they were cookerating sauce. Due to my own scheduling, I didn't want to overload, so am running this a day late.

One of my favourite sauces, you will not be surprised to read, is what is generally called a 'curry' sauce... but the thing is that in south-east Asia, there are endless varieties of that they call 'gravy' which we have defaulted to 'curry'. Historically, it is considered that the Brits during the raj heard the word "kadhi" being used in reference to one particular dish which is a favourite of the North and Western regions - that Hindi word spoken aloud is very close to sounding like 'curry', and the Brits being lazy linguists as they generally are just then applied that word to any of the sauces that appeared on their dishes! Let me share with you one very delicious version which can be served with plain rice, pulao, kichidhi** or roti (flatbreads) for carbs and light vegetables such as stir-fried greens, okra and sweetcorn, grilled zucchini or eggplant ... or if you really must, white fish or chicken. In Punjab, it is used to place their pakora into. 

Dahi Kadhi (Yogurt Curry)

4 cups water
2 cups plain yogurt
2 tablespoons chickpea flour (besan)
2 green chile peppers, halved lengthwise 
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon white sugar, or to taste
½ teaspoon ground turmeric

¼ teaspoon ground coriander

¼ teaspoon ground cumin
salt to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ghee
2 dried red chile peppers, broken into pieces
1 sprig fresh curry leaves
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon mustard seed
1 pinch asafoetida powder
¼ cup chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves

Step 1
Mix the water, yogurt, and chickpea flour together in a large saucepan until smooth; add the green chile peppers, ginger, sugar, turmeric, coriander, cumin and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and then immediately reduce heat to low; cook on low 5 to 10 minutes.

Step 2
Heat the oil and ghee together in a small skillet over medium heat; fry the dried red chile peppers, curry leaves, cumin seeds, mustard seed, and asafetida powder in the mixture until the seeds splutter. Stir the mixture into the saucepan with the coriander leaves. Serve hot.

**Kichidi is another of those words the Brits approximated - it turned out as 'kedgeree'! They also altered the recipe, which is rice and dahl, lightly spiced, and turned it into the smoked haddock, egg and tomato form most of us are familiar with in the west.

Aur Khanna!!!

('and food' - meaning 'enjoy'!)