When I visited my sister in the US some years back, we had the opportunity to taste kadhi chawal at a Pakistani eatery in Berkeley. It was simple, and simply sensational! Then, when a Pakistani family moved in near us, I fairly pestered Bushra to make the same kadhi, and it was just as awesome. She gave me the recipe, and I tried it out once, but could not manage the same divine taste. Posting the recipe for my mom here:

Kadhi
Mix 4 tbsp besan with half kg dahi and add salt, haldi and red chili powder. Then add 1.5-2.0 litres of water and mix well. Strain the liquid and cook on a low flame for 1-2 hours until it thickens a little. If you keep a wooden spoon in the pot, the kadhi will not boil over.

Pakodi
To 1.5 cups of besan, add fresh chopped ginger & garlic, 1 finely chopped onion, 1-2 red/green chilies, 1 tsp dhaniya seeds (coarsely pounded), salt to taste, 1/2 tsp baking soda and water to make a thick paste. This mixture should be fairly spicy, to give that sensational taste to the kadhi. Fry small sized pakodas in hot oil.

Add the pakodas to the kadhi.

Tadka
Splutter jeera, (dry) red chili and kadi patta in 2 tbsp oil, and pour over the kadhi.

Serve hot with rice. Slurrp!

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture yet, but promise to put one up soon. However, it tastes MUCH better than it looks! Enjoy.

I finally have a picture of the kadhi – Bushra made it again for my sister and me, and we managed to take a couple of pictures before polishing it off!