Superb Kadhi with corn (Chali)

Superb Kadhi with corn

“....pray what more can a reasonable man desire, in peaceful times, in ordinary noons, than a sufficient number of ears of green sweet-corn boiled, with the addition of salt?”
Henry David Thoreau, 'Walden' (1854)

Superb Kadhi with corn

On a cold rainy day, I crave for some warm comfort food. Watching an old Indian film (Bobby), I want to sit back, relax watching the film and sipping on the lovely sweet and sour kadhi, while munching on the spicy corn.

I enjoy days when my fiance is at work, son is at school and I am home alone :) I cook in my own time and then relax with a good film before picking my son from school. On one of these days I fancied something spicy and came across Anita's blog on Kadhi and liked the thought of this with some changes. I thought this would go well with Green beans and Potato curry , hot Rotis and Rice, it all sounded so delicious!

So to the kitchen I dashed, got the ingredients ready and started the experimenting with the kadhi and cooking the curry. Then put the rice to boil and cooked the rotis in minutes. While the rotis were still puffy, I relaxed on the rug in the lounge and was fortunate they were playing one of my favourite old films (Bobby).

The experience was amazing! I dedicate this experience to Anita. If you too fancy this experience, here is the recipe for the best Kadhi with Corn (Chali):

Ingredients:

2-3 tsp oil
2 cups low-fat or fat-free yogurt, slightly sour
2 tbsp besan or gram flour
4-5 cups water
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
pinch asafetida
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp amchoor powder (optional)
1-2 hot green chilli peppers, sliced into two vertically
8-10 fresh curry leaves
6 cloves
½ to 1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp sugar (use about 1tbsp Indian sugar, since it is sweeter)
6-7 sprigs of cilantro, chopped fine
2 fresh cobs of corn on cob or use frozen or tinned (see tips)
salt to taste

Recipe:

1. Whisk the yogurt with besan until there are no lumps. If you see any lumps, break them with your fingers and whisk some more.

2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and toss in mustard seeds.

3. When they crackle and pop, add asafetida, followed by cumin seeds, green chillies, curry leaves, ginger, amchoor and cloves. Ensure that the spices do not burn.

4. Add turmeric powder and then add the yogurt and besan mixture.

5. Turn the heat to medium and stir the mixture briskly for a couple of minutes until it thickens ever so slightly. You will feel the change in consistency as you continue to stir.

6. Only then add water slowly to the mixture, while stirring and mixing continuously.

7. Add grated ginger and sugar. Once the Kadhi boils, add the corn.

8. Bring to a boil again a couple of times. Each time the kadhi threatens to boil over, reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes and boil again. If you have the time, allow it to simmer for as long as possible instead of bringing it to a brisk boil each time. If you do simmer it for a long time, be sure to adjust the amount of water (and salt) to bring it to a pouring consistency that is not too thick.

9. Continue to simmer until you are ready to take it to the table, then sprinkle with coriander and serve lovely and hot.

I served this with green beans and potato sabzi/shak/curry and hot fresh rotis – as per picture.
The recipe for Green beans Curry is also included on this site, Enjoy!

Tips:

• The corn – if using fresh, microwave the full cobs for 3-5 mins and once cool cut into 1 inch slices. If using frozen it is best to use corn pieces, these are normally 2 inch pieces but that is fine and can be used as per this recipe without any problems. Same with tinned corn, use as per recipe.


• The amchoor powder really helps give that sour flavour, this is particularly good when you are using yogurt that is not very sour

Preparation time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins plus boiling kadhi time

Easy/Hard to make: Medium