Lunch · Sakhree
Kadi
Thathai Bhatia vegetable curry
The community's signature curry and one third of the classic Dar–Bhaat–Kadi lunch. A slow-simmered, lightly besan-thickened broth built on the cooking water of whole green moong, loaded with vegetables (yam, cluster beans, potato, drumstick, okra, banana) and white chickpeas, soured with kokum flowers and tamarind and rounded off with a little jaggery — spicy, tangy and faintly sweet at once. Colour ranges from pale to deep green depending on the moong stock.
Ingredients
Make
Measure in
Cups are shown in grams or ml; spoons stay as spoons. Panja Khada’s own weights are used where they give them (1 cup of flour is 150 g, rice or dal 200 g, curd 225 g, milk or water 240 ml), and standard kitchen weights otherwise.
Main
Spices & flavourings
Liquids & sour agents
Thickener
Garnish
Method
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The night before, soak the white chickpeas and the whole moong in separate bowls. Next day, boil the moong until soft and keep its cooking water — this is the stock.
Warm the ghee in a deep pan over medium heat. Add the soaked chickpeas, cluster beans and yam and stir-fry for about .
Add the cooked moong, then the fenugreek, cumin, hing, green chillies, dried red chilli, ginger and curry leaves. Stir for about a minute until fragrant and lightly browned.
Pour in the 2 cups moong water, the 2 cups plain water and the kokum flowers. Bring to a boil over high heat.
Lower to medium and cook for about .
Whisk the besan with a little water into a smooth, thin batter. Add it to the pot gradually, stirring all the while so no lumps form.
Add the potato, drumstick, salt and turmeric. Cook about , until the vegetables are partly tender.
Add the okra and jaggery (and, if using, the chopped banana and banana peel). Add the tamarind water at this stage too.
Simmer a further until every vegetable is fully cooked and the flavours have married.
Finish with coriander and serve piping hot.
My notes
Your family’s way with this recipe, or a reminder for next time. Kept on this phone or computer, and shown in cook mode.
Tips and variations
Add the besan batter slowly while stirring to avoid lumps. Long, slow cooking is what builds the flavour. Using the lentil cooking water instead of plain water improves both taste and nutrition — traditional kadi never throws the moong water away.
Serve with
Hot, with plain rice (choka) and a lentil topping — whole or puréed moong (ufra/gutiya), tuvar dal or moong dal (i.e. the Dar–Bhaat–Kadi meal), with pappad and tuk alongside. Rice is eaten first, then breads.
Recipes mentioned here
Nutrition
EstimatedPer serving
190 kcal
- Protein
- 6 g
- Carbohydrate
- 31 g
- Fat
- 5 g
We estimate about 7 servings from the weight of the dish.
Whole recipe
1,300 kcal
- Protein
- 41 g
- Carbohydrate
- 218 g
- Fat
- 35 g
Everything in the ingredients list.
These are estimates, worked out from the amounts in the recipe and typical values for each ingredient. Portion sizes and the exact amount of oil, ghee or sugar can change them a lot. How we estimate
Good to know
Storage
Keeps 2 days refrigerated in an airtight box; reheat gently on low with a splash of water — it tastes better the next day. Banana and banana peel reflect the cuisine's no-waste habit.
Where this recipe comes from
Recipe from Panja Khada by Bharat and Deepa Chachara.
See the original recipe and photos