- The idea of summer camp wasn't something
my parents really understood,
so the only camps I ever went to
were, like, goat-milking
camp, and then debate camp.
That's it, no other camps.
I remember, like, my friends
got to go to camp at NASA,
and I was like, why
can't I go to space camp?
And my parents were like,
here's goat-milking camp.
You asked to go to camp, right?
[soft funky music]
So we're making kadhi today,
and kadhi is basically this
cozy, warm, tangy soup.
Think of, like, the best
cream of whatever soup
you've ever had, but with no produce,
and made of chickpea flour, spices,
yogurt, turmeric, and the thing
that always bugs me is that
it's spelled K-A-D-H-I,
and so a lot of people
think that's, like, curry,
and they think, oh, like an Indian curry.
This is not that.
This is kadhi.
So the base of kadhi is
turmeric, chickpea flour,
yogurt, and water, and this
part is really important
because everything has to be
really smooth and homogenous.
Otherwise, it's gonna not cook right,
it'll get clumpy, and
kinda taste a little gross
when you're cooking it.
So we're gonna start
by putting our yogurt.
You want to try and find the
most sour yogurt you can get.
Weirdly, the European-style yogurt
at Trader Joe's works really well,
but what works the best is just, like,
having yogurt that's old.
Like, a two-week-old tub of yogurt
will work really well.
You really want that
characteristically sour, acidic flavor.
I've just found that
Indian brands of yogurt
in particular just have a
much more acidic flavor,
and that's what I grew up with.
I love that flavor.
We've got our chickpea flour.
I feel like chickpea flour kind of turned
into a wellness trend recently,
and people are like, oh my god,
have you heard of chickpea flour?
And every Indian ever was like,
yes, we use it all the time.
And then we're gonna put water in here,
and we're gonna give it a whisk again.
I like doing this all in a measuring cup
'cause, when we have to pour it in,
it just makes it easier,
but you can do this in
whatever floats your boat.
Now we're gonna add our turmeric.
Kadhi has this really
beautiful, bright yellow color,
and the turmeric is what gives it that.
Mix this until you
aren't seeing any lumps.
Like, lumps are the enemy in kadhi.
You want this to be really smooth,
really homogenous, really creamy.
All right, so this is kinda
what you're looking at.
See, like, look, no bumps,
no lumps, nice and smooth.
Cool?
This is a soup that's really gonna bubble,
so if you're choosing between
something a little smaller
and something a little bigger,
go with something a little bit bigger
because you don't want
things spilling over.
We're gonna heat this up on medium,
and then we're gonna put our ghee in.
You can use oil if you want,
like, any neutral oil,
but ghee is really the best.
Okay, so while this melts,
you've got cloves, black
mustard seeds, love these,
two bay leaves, fenugreek.
It sort of has this really
earthy, woodsy aroma.
It works really well with
sweet dishes like squash.
It's very essential in Indian cooking.
And then black peppercorns.
The reason we're starting
with whole spices is because
it's awesome to get the sort of bite
into a whole peppercorn that's
gotten a little bit soft
but retains a little bit of crunch.
Like, even the cumin seeds,
you get this sort of smoky hit
in the middle of the soup.
So, we're gonna let these toast.
Toasting them kinda brings out the aroma,
gives them a little bit of crunch.
The best indicator that they're done is
when the mustard seeds start popping,
so it'll probably be
about a minute or two,
and then this'll be good to go.
These are popping, so we're
gonna add our kadhi mixture.
Then we're gonna add this.
And we're gonna add salt.
Now we have to keep
stirring until it boils
'cause, if you don't keep
stirring, it will curdle.
This is the kind of stressful
part about making kadhi.
Do not stop stirring.
Like, curdling is the difference
between kind of a chalky-tasting soup
and a really rich, creamy-tasting soup.
We're gonna turn the heat up to high,
and again, keep stirring.
This is a good point to taste it
just to make sure that the
salt levels are what you want,
and also that it's tangy enough,
and if it's not tangy enough,
my trick is just a few
drops of lime juice.
Let's see how it goes.
Mm, I think it needs
a little more acidity,
so I'm gonna put a few
drops of lime juice.
Just I think the yogurt wasn't old enough.
I'm adding a teeny bit of lime juice
just to give it a little bit more tang,
but continuing to stir,
and then I'm adding just a
teeny bit of more salt as well.
The other thing I love about this kadhi is
that it requires no fresh produce.
It's one of those perfect winter soups.
Like, when you go to the farmer's market,
and there's literally
nothing that's looking good,
you can come home, and
make kadhi and rice,
and it's just kinda this
perfect, self-contained meal.
My mom puts pakoras, which
are these little fritters
made of chickpea flour, in her kadhi,
but I don't like pakoras in my kadhi,
and whenever I bring this up
with someone else from
Uttar Pradesh or from UP,
they're like, this is blasphemous,
but I just don't like stuff
floating around in my soup.
It's just, I don't know,
it's just a personal preference,
but if you like pakoras in your kadhi,
you can buy them frozen
at the Indian store,
and plop them in, totally fine.
Okay, so now that it's boiling,
what I'm gonna do, this
is another mom trick,
is, I'm gonna keep this spoon in here,
a long-handled spoon, to kinda
break the surface tension
and prevent it from boiling over,
and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
So this is, you can see
how it's thickened up.
It's thick enough to kinda coat a spoon.
It's almost there.
We're gonna give it one or two minutes.
Gonna give it a little taste.
Guys, it's really good.
It's really good, mm.
Gonna turn that off,
and now we are, ooh, oops,
that's what aprons are for,
we're gonna make the chhonk.
We put chhonk on everything.
Haven't you watched enough
of these videos to know that?
So put our ghee in.
As soon as this is all melted,
we're gonna add our cumin seeds.
You'll note we added cumin seeds,
I guess, to the soup itself,
and we're gonna put it on the chhonk
because, in this, they have
sort of an earthy taste,
and in this, they have
almost this sort of smoky, buttery taste.
I think one of the
things that's so amazing
about Indian cooking is just sort of,
like, layering the
complexity of the spices
This dish is really like a study
in nuance and complexity.
It's just, I'm really excited to eat it.
[laughs]
All right, so we're gonna
put our cumin seeds in here.
You all know the drill.
We're gonna wait for them to
dance a little in the oil.
Once you can smell that smoky flavor,
they start to get a little brown.
All right, these are good to go.
They're nice and brown, so
you take it off the flame.
Now we're gonna add our asafoetida, hing.
Kind of has this beautiful
garlic-y, onion-y flavor
that we know and love.
Gonna do our dried chilies,
and then our red chile powder.
Cayenne works great.
I use Kashmiri chili powder
'cause it has a nice, smoky taste.
And this is what our chhonk looks like.
Pretty nice.
Ooh, chhonk.
[laughs]
Sorry.
All right, now we're ready
to put it in the bowl.
We're gonna drizzle our
chhonk over the top.
Okay, and then, the last touch.
All right, here we go.
Woo.
- [Man] A little chhonk to end the show.
- Kind of awesome.
Really, always my favorite part.
And so, to construct a bite,
you are gonna mound white rice,
you're gonna put a little
bit of kadhi over the top,
and it's kinda perfect.
So, everyone has a preferred
kadhi-to-rice ratio.
I like a good amount of rice.
I'm not gonna lie.
Then I'm gonna give
this just a little stir,
get everything incorporated.
The chilies, just note,
are for color and aroma.
I would not eat them,
but some people eat them.
It's personal preference.
Might blow your head off.
I'm gonna eat it.
Mm.
Oh my god.
This is like the coziest,
most soul-warming soup ever.
Just with the rice, it's just,
it's like, this is what I want
on a sick day, on a cold day.
It's tangy, you got the
crunch of the spices,
it's rich from the chhonk,
it's a little spicy, but not too spicy.
Who would've thought?
Put yogurt in soup.
Indians, that's who.
Mm.
Also, whole peppercorns, so underrated.
Like, crunching on a whole peppercorn
I find extremely satisfying.
It's like, every bite's
a little bit different.
Sometimes, you get the smoky
crunch of a cumin seed.
Sometimes, you get that
sort of more earthy,
bitter crunch of the fenugreek.
Mm.
Oh my god.
This is so good.
I wish my mom were here.
[clapperboard clicks]
All right, our kadhi is boiling away.
We've got, like, five minutes.
I can read the thing in
debate talk, if you want.
- [Director] On the mark,
Priya, present the case now.
- Kadhi, meet my favorite
soup of all time.
Kadhi is similar in texture
to those cream of soups,
but far more satisfying,
and no creaming involved.
In its original form,
comes from Rajasthan,
where my mom tells me it's popular
'cause [mumbles] are the reason.
All you need to make kadhi are yogurt,
chickpea flour, and spices.
Don't let the simplicity fool you.
Kadhi is equally comforting,
insanely complex,
favorite like a cozy plate.
Have a bowl of white rice.
In my mom's recipe, unlike
the liquid-y, mild version,
made the sort of rush onto sticks,
rich in spice forwards.
The pleasant tanginess, and small warning,
absolutely love the strong
pepper and [mumbles] flavor,
and suggest, if you
don't like peppercorns,
feel free to nix them or
cut the amount in half.
[people clap]
- Wow, Priya.
