Sindhi Kadhi

Today’s recipe in the Featured Recipes on Friendship Week series is hot and spicy Sindhi Kadhi. This traditional Sindhi dish is a favorite of most and it deserves all the attention. I learned this recipe from my dearest friend Anisha’s mom and aunty and I had so much fun in the kitchen today. I always have fun with aunty. She found time to accommodate me even though she was swamped with work at home today. Aunty is one of my friends’ moms who I visit even when my friend isn’t around.

I am not able to put a finger exactly at the timeline when Anisha and I became friends. We just became friends gradually in school and came closer over time. Here’s a picture from back when we were in 4^th or 5^th grade I guess. Anisha is in orange and I am in white. It was a patriotic dance performance and we were dressed in the colors of the Indian national flag.

And here’s a lovely one from recent times.

She is one of the most gorgeous, well-spoken, sophisticated women I know who wraps it up with fun.  That's enough Straw B. I am not going to praise you anymore without a bribe!

Coming to our recipe now, it is cooked gram flour roundels in spicy onion-tomato gravy. Aunty asked me to taste one of the pieces and it was so yum that I gobbled up at least 5 before she had a chance to put them in the gravy. When I told her that I could eat all of them just like that, she said that it is not unusual for people to  eat them as snacks. It was a good to know I wasn't the weird one!

Ingredients:

For Gram flour dough-

Gram flour- 2 1/2 cups

Green chilly, chopped- 1 nos

Fresh chopped coriander- 1 tbsp

Freshly crushed black peppercorns- 1 1/2 tsp

Red chilly powder- 1 tbsp (adjust)

Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil- 1/4 cup

Water for kneading

For Gravy-

Onions, chopped- 2 cups

Pureed tomatoes- 1 1/2 cups

Oil- 1/4 cup

Coriander powder- 1 tbsp

Red Chilly powder- 1/2 tbsp

Garam masala powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Recipe:

Knead a tight dough using the ingredients listed by sprinkling little water at a time.

Divide dough into several small portions and roll each portion into a 4-5" long, 1" thick sticks.

Put these sticks in a pan full of boiling water and let cook covered for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When cooked, remove sticks from water and cut each into 1" pieces.

Save this water.

For gravy, heat oil in a pan and add onions. Fry on medium flame till uniformly browned.

Add powdered spices. Fry for 30 seconds.

Add tomato puree. Stir well to mix and let cook until tomatoes turn dark red and leave the sides the pan.

Mash the gravy using a potato masher to make it smoother but not too fine.

Add 2 ladle full of water in which dough was cooked.

Add gram flour pieces.

Mix well to coat.

Let cook for 2 minutes.

Add 1-2 cups of water and some of the water saved earlier taking care to avoid the sediments.

Stir well. Check for salt. 

Cover and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot with chapatis.