This month , for ICC we have chosen to cook the famous Dapka Kadhi from Gujarati kitchen. Dapka Kadhi is made by the Jain community of Gujarati's. While Valli and I decided on this curry Tarla Dalal's recipe seemed the best option. I followed her recipe but having Jain friends I wanted to go deep and find the authentic recipe.
My Jain friends told me that sugar is not used in the authentic recipe , not even in the dapkas , though the TD's recipe has sugar in both the kadhi and dapkas.
The second variation is the tempering.I tempered the curry with cumin seed instead of musturd. The fenugreek seeds are added without tempering.
The Jains do not use moong daal for the dumplings, instead they use chola ni daal. I had already soaked moong daal so I did not change that.
Since it is a Jain speciality onion and garlic are not used.
Turmeric powder s not used in this Kadhi. The color comes from the red chilly powder which is used for tempering.
The recipe asks for 3 1/2 cups of water, but I used much more.I found the consistency of the kadhi quite thick.
Now let's get to the recipe .
Kadhi
2 cups fresh curd
3 tbsp gram flour
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
Pinch asafoetida
2-3 dry whole red chilly
2 green chilly, finely chopped
1tsp ginger , finely chopped
1 tsp red chilly powder
Salt to taste
Beat curd, besan and 4 cups of water with a blender.
Heat oil.
Add cumin seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves.
Add red chilly powder and immediately add 1/4 cup water.
Now add the curd and flour mix.
Add methi seeds, ginger and green chilly.
Let the Kadhi cook.
Add salt.
Let the Kadhi boil.
At this step there are two options for making this Kadhi
Option 1
While the Kadhi is boiling, the flame has to be full.
Beat the batter well and make one lentil ball and drop into the Kadhi.
This ball should come up.
Repeat with the rest of the batter to make these dumplings.
Make sure not to drop all at one go.
They might disintegrate.
Option 2
Alternately put water to boil, and when it has boiled well add the dumpling to this.
Once it comes up , put the other dumpling.
Remove the first dumpling and put in Kadhi.
Make all dumplings in the same manner.
Let the kadhi cook .
Temper once again with curry leaves cinnamon and cloves.
Dapka
1 cup yellow moong daal
1 tsp ginger chilly paste
Pinch asafetida
Salt to taste
Pinch soda ( optional )
Wash and soak the moong daal for 3-4 hours.
Strain and leave it In a sieve so that all the water is completely drained.
Make a fine paste of this daal with ginger and green chilly.
Add salt .
Use bare minimum water for grinding.
Remove in a bowl, add asafetida and beat well.
If you wish to add soda you can do so.
The curry came out good, but the dumplings should have been more soft.
I served this curry with rice, thepla and a peas, corn and paneer side dish.The vadhvaani mirch is a must with my Gujju meals.My hubby who is a hard core Gujju cuisine fan, told me that the dumplings should have been really small, just like the mini rassgullas. After he told I realized that when ever I have seen and eaten this curry the dumplings are actually very small.They melt in the mouth.My friend told me that they use Choula ki daal for these dumplings. This is one daal that the Jain community really uses, I still have to try using this one.Perhaps with that daal and lot of beating the dumplings get soft and I think I should ask my friend to give a live demo of this curry.
