🍛 Kadhi pakora
Kadhi pakora is a North Indian curry of yogurt and besan (chickpea meal) simmered slowly into a smooth, tangy sauce, coloured golden with turmeric and seasoned with fenugreek and chilli. Soft besan fritters called pakoras are dropped into the curry so they soak up the sauce. It is comfort food usually eaten with plain steamed rice.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 400 g plain yogurt
- 60 g besan (chickpea meal) for the kadhi
- 800 ml water
- 1 tsp turmeric and 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1–2 dried red chillies
- For the pakoras: 120 g besan, 1 sliced onion, chilli, salt, water
- Oil for cooking
- Salt
Method
- Whisk the yogurt, 60 g besan, turmeric, salt and water until smooth.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil, add fenugreek seeds and chillies, pour in the yogurt mixture and bring slowly to a simmer, stirring.
- Simmer on low heat for 30–40 minutes until it thickens slightly.
- Mix the pakora batter with the onion, fry spoonfuls in hot oil until golden and drain.
- Add the pakoras to the kadhi 10 minutes before serving.
How to make it lighter
- Bake or air-fry the pakoras instead of deep-frying them.
- Use fewer pakoras and more kadhi — the sauce alone is fairly light.
- Use low-fat yogurt for the sauce.
History
Kadhi is cooked across northern and western India in many regional styles; the Punjabi version with pakoras is the best known. Today it is a common home-style dish, often made for weekend family lunches.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →