This Gujarati Kadhi is a thin yogurt-based curry with a wonderful sweet and sour taste that you will love. It's quick, fuss-free, and comforting. This traditional kadhi can be served as a soup or with rice.
I love Gujarati food, and grew up enjoying it a lot with lots of Gujarati friends in school and college. Gujarati Dal, Dal Dhokli, Khandvi and Khaman Dhokla are some of my favorites.
Kadhi is a yogurt-based soup that is widely popular in Northern and Western India. However, every region (or even every household) has its own perfect kadhi recipe. This kadhi, which has a sweet, sour, and savory flavor, is one such popular and famous curry recipe from the state of Gujarat in Western India.
My favorite way to enjoy this kadhi is just as a large bowl of soup, it is so warming, or on top of white rice or khichdi with some pickle and added tadka (tempering) made with ghee.
What is Gujarati Kadhi?
Gujarati kadhi is a version of kadhi that is made in Gujarat. It's a famous Gujarati meal made with gram flour and buttermilk or dahi. Gujarati food is incomplete without kadhi.
This Kadhi has a sour and sweet flavor, and is very different form Punjabi Kadhi with has a thicker consistency and is often served with onion pakoras.
It's the perfect comfort food when served with a bowl of steaming rice or khichdi. Adding any legume dish as a side dish is the icing on the cake.
Turmeric powder is an optional ingredient in Gujarati Khadi. In most Gujarati households, the Kadhi is not yellowish, which is the recipe I am sharing here.
You will love this Kadhi
- It's perfect for weekday dinners and when you're looking for something light to eat.
- Easy, fuss-free, and soothing.
- Make with simple ingredients such as yogurt and gram flour.
- It's excellent when served with simple rice or khichdi.
Ingredients you'll need
Yogurt: To make this kadhi amazing, always use sour yogurt. To make yogurt sour simply leave it on the counter for a few hours. I make yogurt in Instant pot. It is easily available in grocery stores as well. I prefer to use whole milk yogurt.
Besan (Gram Flour): Important ingredient in this dish is besan. It holds the kadhi together and prevents the yogurt from curdling.
Sugar: To balance out the sourness, a little sugar is added.
Green chili, ginger, and garlic: To give the kadhi extra taste, you can increase or decrease the amount of green chili depending on your taste. If you're making this recipe as a Jain, leave off the ginger and garlic.
Tempering: Curry leaves, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cloves, bay leaf, hing, cinnamon stick, and dry red chilies are tempered in hot ghee. Ghee enhances the flavor of the kadhi to the next level, so don't skip that.
Garnish: Cilantro leaves. If you like, you can add another round of tempering at the end, I typically skip it.
How to make Gujarati Kadhi?
- In a mixing bowl, add the yogurt and besan. Whisk it well. Then add water, continue whisking to make sure no lumps are formed.
- In a vessel, add ghee and let it heat on medium-high heat. Then add all the tempering ingredients. Sauté them for a minute. Make sure they do not burn.
- Add green chili pepper, ginger, and garlic (if using). Saute for 30 seconds.
- Add the yogurt mixture while stirring continuously. It is important to keep stirring here, so the yogurt mixture does not curdle.
- Add salt, sugar. Keep stirring until it starts to boil. (We don't want the kadhi to curdle).
- Once the kadhi starts boiling, it is okay to not stir anymore. Keep on low and simmer for about 10-12 minutes.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice, khichdi or roti.
How to serve?
This Gujarati Kadhi goes well with rice, roti, and khichdi.
Tips to make perfect Kadhi
- I prefer to make it a one-pot meal. I begin with the tempering and then add the yogurt besan mixture, but you can add the tempering last if you want.
- Keep your yogurt out of the fridge for a few hours to make it sour.
- Keep stirring the yogurt mixture once on heat, so that it does not curdle. You can stop stirring once the kadhi starts to boil.
Common Questions
Instead of dairy yogurt, use coconut or cashew yogurt, and oil instead of ghee.
Always use yogurt/curd that is at room temperature. While the kadhi is boiling, maintain the heat on medium. As soon as the heat is turned on, keep constantly stirring until the mixture begins to boil.
When stored in an airtight container, this will last up to 2-3 days in the fridge.
You might like more recipes I have shared that would pair well with this kadhi:
Gujarati Kadhi
Ingredients
Tempering
- 1 tablespoon Ghee or Oil
- ½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds (Rai)
- ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- ¼ teaspoon Fenugreek seeds (Methi dana)
- ⅛ teaspoon Asafoetida (Hing) skip for gluten-free
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2 Cloves (Laung)
- 2 Whole red chilies see notes
- 10-12 Curry Leaves (Kadi Patta)
- 1 inch Cinnamon stick
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add the yogurt and besan. Whisk it well. Then add water, continue whisking to make sure no lumps are formed.
- In a vessel, add ghee and let it heat on medium-high heat. Then add rai, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, hing, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, cloves, dry whole chili, curry leaves. Saute them for a minute. Make sure not to burn.
- Add green chili pepper, ginger, and garlic (if using). Saute for 30 seconds.
- Add the yogurt mixture while stirring continuously.
- Add salt, sugar. Keep stirring until it starts to boil. (We don't want the kadhi to curdle)
- Once boiled, keep on low and simmer for about 10-12 minutes.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice, khichdi, or roti.
Notes
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
I am always confused by "green" & "red" chili's. In the stores I see the different colored peppers but they have names like jalapeno, habenero, poblano, etc...some hot, some mild. I don't make a recipe when I'm uncertain about the ingredients I should choose because I hate to waste time & $$$. I'm not "chili smart" and don't know which is best to pick!
Hi Janet - Thanks for sharing. I added more details about the green and red chili peppers I used in this recipe. Hope you enjoy the kadhi!