Guest Post: Kadhi Pakora

As I've made well known, I am absolutely in love with Indian food. This love is only surpassed (and just barely at that) by my devotion to the cuisine of my native China. Like most people, I have my favorite dishes that I tend to order from each cuisine. For Indian food this includes aloo gobi (potato with cauliflower) and channa masala (chickpea curry). However, a while ago I decided to take a chance on a new dish consisting of fried chickpea fritters in a flavorful yogurt-based sauce called Kadhi Pakora. Wow was this stuff good and I immediately wanted to make it at home. Luckily I knew exactly who to call on, my friend Prerna of Indian Simmer. Having tried several of her recipes, I knew what I got from her would be fantastic. And having seen her blog posts (such as her recent clicks of India), I knew what I got from her would be beautiful. Of course she's proved me right with this lovely guest post teaching us how to make Kadhi Pakora at home. Now I gladly hand over the reins to you, Prerna!

It has been close to six years since I left homeland and started my own family and a kitchen. There were quite a few initial challenges and kitchen disasters but slowly I think I got a hang of it and started cooking some decent edible food. But there are two things that still make my legs weak when someone asks me to make - Indian pickles or a kadhi. A very close friend of ours is pregnant and the mommy-to-be has been craving kadhi, a lot! Lucky enough for me an Indian restaurant close to our place makes really good kadhi. Every few days I have to make a trip there. But after a few trips I realized I better face this fear and try to perfect the art of making kadhi myself.

There is no right way to make kadhi and you can find tens and hundreds of recipes out there. A Gujarati kadhi (popular in the state of Gujarat), Maharashtrian Kadhi (from the state of Maharshtra), Pujabi kadhi (coming from the state of Punjab), Aunty Sheila’s kadhi, mom’s kadhi and so on… A perfect example of what a traditional Indian food is, everyone has their own version with a few tweaks here and there but fundamentally they are all the same. Simple comfort food that fills up your belly, warms up your heart and you can never have enough of it!

Kadhi is simply a spiced soup that you make with thinning out yogurt with water and cooking it with some chickpea flour. Yes, that is all what kadhi is and then you can add whatever you want to it and make it your own. Some like to make it with some deep fried chickpea fritters, some add veggies or some like my mom make it with tomatoes. Some like to add more water and make it really thin, some don’t and so they add a little more flour to make it denser. Then the use of spices also varies from region to region. In some parts of the country mustard seeds and curry leaves are very important when making kadhi, while in other parts spices like fenugreek seeds and whole red chili pepper are used.

My mom makes it in one way and my mom in law makes it in another so when I try a recipe like this I take the middle route. Some of hers and some of hers! Some might find this recipe a little closer to the Punjabi kadhi and I would say those frequent trips to the Indian restaurant might have to do with that too. For the tempering, I used the spices that my mom uses and for the consistency I went with my mom in law’s style. I made some deep fried chickpea battered fritters and also some with vegetables. I am sharing the recipe with no vegetables here because that is what is commonly used for kadhi. If fritters don’t look perfect or they look sloppy to you then please pardon me. Making gorgeous looking and perfectly shaped bhajia is just not my forte so I say “I kinda like them that way!”

Here’s the recipe for my version of kadhi.

Kadhi (Chickpea Flour Fritters Cooked in Yogurt Soup) Naturally Gluten-free
[Printable Recipe]

Ingredients: Serves 6

For Besan (Chickpea Flour) Fritters:
2 cups besan (chickpea flour)
1/2 tsp ajwain seeds
1 pinch baking soda
Salt
Oil for deep frying

For Kadhi:
3 cups yogurt (I find whole milk yogurt tangier but you can use lowfat too) PLUS 4 cups water
3/4 cup besan
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
1 Tbsp curry leaves
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 whole dried red chili
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 pinch asafetida (heeng)
1 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil
Salt

Method:

For Besan (Chickpea Flour) Fritters:
Mix chickpea flour, ajwain seeds and baking powder. Add salt. (besan fritters should be very lightly salted because it will absorb juices and flavor from the kadhi later)

Start adding water while thoroughly whisking so that there are no lumps in the batter. Batter should be light, smooth and thicker than a pancake batter.

Heat oil in a deep fryer and slowly spoon batter into the oil. Fry until the fritters are golden brown. Drain excess oil in paper towels and set the fritters aside.

For Kadhi:
In a whisking bowl whisk together yogurt and besan (chickpea flour) until it’s smooth. Add water to thin it out. Set aside.

Heat oil in a wok or a big wide pan. Add asafetida, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and red chili. When spices start to pop, add chopped ginger, garlic and curry leaves. Cook until it is golden brown.

Add yogurt, water and besan mixture. Add turmeric. Mix everything together well and bring it to a boil. The point when kadhi is starting to boil, it bubbles a lot and fast. From this point, turn the heat to low and continuously stir/whisk the kadhi as now it will begin to thicken.

Add salt and fritters and let it cook for about ten minutes or until fritters are soft absorbing liquid and kadhi is thicker. Some like to garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with rice.

Stylish Appetizer Plate GIVEAWAY!

One thing I've learned from being a food blogger/photographer is the importance of presentation. Of course great taste is key, but we "eat with our eyes," as they say. An attractively presented dish will be that much more appealing, even if the food itself is the same. That's why I like to find interesting, stylish dishes for serving finger food to my guests. If you're the same way, you'll be happy to hear that Inmod.com, an online retailer of modern décor and home furnishings, contacted me recently to host a giveaway of their Porcelain Modular Square Plate with Wooden Frame (pictured above). I like that with this set you can choose to arrange the plates neatly inside the wooden frame or spread them out separately for more people to enjoy. If this is something you'd like to have, here's what you can do. This giveaway is only open to US residents within the 48 contiguous states. To enter to win this plate set, simply do as many of the following as you want and leave a separate comment for each thing you do! Please also make sure to leave a way for me to contact you if you win. The giveaway will close on September 16 at midnight, and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter. Good luck! THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED. THANKS TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

• Leave a comment telling me what you'd serve on these plates.
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Bloggers Unite for Africa and Tuesday Favorites!

First of all, I'm excited to announce that I'm joining my lovely friend Jackie, of La Casa de Sweets, in her effort to raise money to help the children of need in Africa. With the current and yet rising popularity of blogs, those of us who author them have a wonderful ability to reach so many people at once with our words. I'm grateful to Jackie for reminding me of this and for encouraging me to do something especially meaningful with that power through Bloggers Unite for Africa. Jackie has done the hard work of speaking to on-the-ground journalists and aid workers to pick organizations that are sure to use the money we raise to save lives. Please join us by donating as little or as much as you want and/or by sharing this link on your site, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thank you!

And now it's back to our regular programming =). I'm here as usual to deliver your weekly dose of food pr0nography photography! Not that I'm complaining, but my brain's still fried from last week's 2-hour long biochemistry lectures (school just started back up). Hence we're skipping the photography exercises this week, and jumping straight to the eye candy. Enjoy, my friends!

Spinach Edamame Lentil Lime Salad from Marie Claire Italy

Slow Cooker Pork and Black Bean Soup from Woman's Day

S'mores Wedding Cake by My Sweet and Saucy

*If I ever get married this IS going to be my cake (shhhh...don't tell P) =p

Baked Eggs with Spinach and Prosciutto from A Little Relish

Peaches with Ginger Pecan and Brown Sugar Cake from Desserts for Breakfast

Blackened White Fish from Four Foodies

White Chocolate Tiara Toppers on Red Velvet Cupcakes from I <3 Baking

Eggs Photograph from Photisserie

Hellooo Fall! (Irresistible Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes)

My friend C's birthday is in just a few days. Never one to miss a chance to bake, I offered her a dozen cupcakes in any flavor she wanted. Now had I been in her shoes I would've thrown out something crazy...like passionfruit mousse cupcakes with macarons on top! But C is apparently too sweet to do that. Well actually...she can be pretty hilariously snarky when she wants to be. So the truth is just that C really really loves pumpkin cake and asked me for exactly that. Too easy, right?

Well actually...there's no such thing as too easy when the results taste this fantastic! I immediately turned to Tartelette's delicious spiced pumpkin cupcake recipe, which I'd tried and loved before. It's got just the right amount of cinnamon and other fall spices to make me want the leaves to hurry up and reveal their glorious colors. I topped off these autumn beauties with generous swirls of my signature not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting. Happy (almost) Birthday, C!

Isn't fall baking just great? I want to hear all about what you can't wait to bake in the coming months! And my friends in the Southern Hemisphere, feel free to share your favorite spring treats, too!

P.S. - Since I've talked about the importance of analyzing your work and having others critique it, I'm going to share my thoughts about the above photo. My hope with the background and tray was to add additional texture and layers to the photo. Plus their cooler tones were meant to tone down the warmer orange of the pumpkin. An issue I had with this shoot was with trying to even out the lighting. Even in the final photo, the light coming from my window to the right is too strong. So the frosting of the bottom-most cupcake ended up a bit bright. To prevent this, I should have reflected more light from the left and/or used a black board to reduce the light from the window. Agree with me? Disagree? I'd love to hear it!

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes [Printable Recipe]
Cake slightly adapted from Tartelette
Makes 12 to 14 cupcakes

XIAOLU'S NOTES: I always use canned pumpkin for my baking due to its smooth texture and consistent thickness. If you really want to use a homemade puree, I recommend you drain it using cheesecloth or a coffee filter to ensure that it doesn't add too much liquid to the batter. This frosting recipe makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes fairly generously. If you prefer a thin layer of frosting, feel free to scale the recipe down by 1/3 or even 1/2.

1 cup PLUS 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 scant cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree [1/2 of a 15 oz. can]
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup PLUS 2 Tbsp sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 large egg yolk, room temperature

Pipeable and Not-too-sweet Cream Cheese Frosting (Recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the top of a standard 12-cup muffin pan (in case you get some “muffin top” action). Line pan with 12 baking liners. Sift the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk to combine pumpkin, milk, and vanilla; set aside also.

Using an electric mixer on medium-high, cream butter and sugar together until light in color and fluffy. Turn mixer down to low, and add egg and yolk. Beat well to combine. Next, add 1/3 the flour mixture, then 1/2 the pumpkin mixture, another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the remaining pumpkin mixture, and the last 1/3 of the flour mixture, mixing to combine after each addition. Fill baking liners about 3/4 full (I always use my large cookie scoop for this). If you've filled all 12 baking liners and still have more batter, you can fill standalone baking cups 1/2 full with batter. Bake 20 to 27 minutes OR until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (a few tiny crumbs are OK but there should be NO wet batter). Cool 3 minutes in pan, then remove from pans to wire racks to finish cooling completely. Pipe or spread on cream cheese frosting, and enjoy!

Pipeable and Not-too-sweet Cream Cheese Frosting
3/4 to 1 cup (1 1/2 to 2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
Pinch of salt
1 1/4 to 2 cups (5 to 8 oz.) powdered sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
8 oz. (1 block) cream cheese, cold and cut into 6 to 8 chunks

Sift powdered sugar into a small bowl. In a larger mixing bowl, cream the butter, salt, 1 1/4 cups of powdered sugar, and vanilla until thoroughly blended and fluffy. Add the cream cheese, a chunk at a time, beating after each addition (just enough to work it in until it’s smooth). Taste the frosting, adding and beating in more sugar as needed. Be careful to avoid overbeating or the cream cheese may start to break down and become gloppy. If not using immediately, chill until needed, then beat again until smooth just before using.

This recipe has been submitted to Happy Post Pumpkin Recipes over at Family Fresh Cooking.

7 Links Project

I usually have little time to participate in blog awards, surveys, etc. But when Jenn of Jenn Cuisine asked if I'd be willing to participate in the My 7 Links Project, I thought "sure, why not?" It sounded pretty interesting, and I figured it would be a nice way to reflect on some of the highlights of the past 2 plus years of blogging! These designations are of course very subjective, and I'd love to hear about your picks in the comments if they differ from mine. I hope this encourages newer readers to explore my older work =).

My Most Beautiful Post

It's impossible to pick this one without feeling like I'm being self-congratulatory hehe. But considering what a huge passion I have for food photography and styling, I can't say that a few favorites didn't immediately come to mind. I chose these s'mores cupcakes for a number of reasons. It was a really fun shoot on a tight schedule that was totally unplanned and fell together magically and organically. The branches and leaves you see came from right outside my apartment building. The photo to the right holds a special place in my heart since it earned me my first blog photography award. To top it all off, these are without a doubt the best cupcakes I have ever made. If you make only one cupcake from my site, I hope it's this one!

My Most Popular Post

It's been almost a year since I posted this spiked spaghetti with tomato vodka cream sauce, yet its popularity continues to surprise and delight me. Can you believe that this pasta is the 18th most favorited post of all time on Foodgawker? If any of you reading this are among the 2,216 who've starred this recipe, thank you for blowing my mind =D!

I was especially pleased with the success of this post because it was one savory recipe among many dessert recipes. The positive reader response really gave me confidence to continue sharing a wide variety of content here. And of course it's also pleased me to hear from all of you who've tried and loved this recipe. It's my boyfriend P's favorite pasta, so this recipe definitely stays close at hand.

My Most Controversial Post

Like Jenn, I'm interpreting this as "most discussion" and the winner is without a doubt my pignoli (pine nut) almond cookies post. I was quite fired up when I wrote this post. It was after my mother (who lives nearby) had stopped by to visit, got offended that I was baking instead of giving her my total attention, and then accused me of sabotaging the health of my coworkers by bringing them my sweets. The unintended but positive side effect of this fight was that it pushed me to finally face the tension I'd always felt between my love of baking and my desire to help others improve their diet by becoming a dietitian. If you're interested in what I wrote on this topic, you can read it here.

My Most Helpful Post

My take on food photography and styling was my longest post, as well as the hardest one to write. Considering that my goal was to organize and cram all the critical things I'd learned in 2 years about food photography/styling into a single post, I'm actually surprised it wasn't a more painstaking process =p. The singular goal of this post was to help other budding food bloggers and photographers the same way I'd been guided by those before me. The emails and comments indicate that many of you found the post useful, and that is the best possible outcome I could hope for!

A Post Whose Success Surprised Me

I'm not sure if it's the inherent cuteness of cake pops or a widespread love of Boston cream pie...or their powers combined? But these Boston cream pie cake pops garnered a greater response than I ever imagined with 86 comments to date. The ironic thing, as I explain in that post, is that I never gave a darn about cake pops until I had a really gross one at Starbucks. Guess I just really love a challenge...and this one turned out beautifully. In fact, cake pops (these cookies and cream ones in particular) are now my most popular treat. Does that mean I owe Starbucks my thanks?! =x

A Post I Feel Didn’t Get The Attention It Deserved

I have to tell ya...I expected these strawberry and cream cupcakes to be a big hit. Summer weather + fresh berries + cream + cupcakes + cute styling. Isn't that the tried n' true formula for a popular post?! What actually did bug me a little, though, was that these scrumptious bites of summer heaven weren't immediately made and devoured throughout the world ;p. They did finally get their chance to shine this summer, when they were one of my most popular flavors.

The Post That I Am Most Proud Of

I have to pick my post on food photography and styling again for this because I really did pour everything I knew or could find out into this post. I really hope you find it useful. And please feel free to email me if you have any follow-up questions!

I hope you guys enjoyed that blast from the past. To keep the fun going, I've nominated 5 food bloggers to share their links next. To those whom I've nominated, please don't worry if you don't have time to participate. But I do hope you'll give it a try if you can =D.

Soma of eCurry
Jennifer of Le Delicieux
Sneh of Cook Republic
Pickyin of Life is Great
Amee of Rabbit Food Rocks

Tuesday Favorites!

Hi there! First of all, I hope my readers who're also in the U.S. weathered Hurricane Irene safely this past weekend. With high winds, torrential rains, and the government preemptively declaring our region an emergency zone, the boy and I stocked up on supplies and hunkered down as best we could. Seems luck was on our side seeing as I'm still writing this now =). Hope you all had a similarly harm-free experience...

With these natural disturbances over with (I hope), I'm happy to continue my favorites series with fresh photos and another photography exercise. This week I suggest you focus on the principle of movement in the composition of these and other food photos. As discussed in my earlier photography post, positioning interesting elements in a way that guides the viewer's eyes through your photo will make anyone's experience more enjoyable and exciting. I've reposted some examples of this from my own work above. The yellow lines highlight some potential paths your eyes might take as they move across my photos. But remember that movement doesn't necessarily need to be in straight lines between objects. There are also times when you may not want as much movement in your photo, such as when you want to highlight your subject very dramatically by itself. As always I wish you Happy "Reading"!

Parmesan and Truffle Fries from Kitchen Notes

Yellow Summer Squash and Corn Soup from Love & Olive Oil

Tomato Cobbler from Honey & Jam

Coconut Shrimp with Mango Salsa from Spoon Fork Bacon

Halibut and Summer Vegetables en Papillote from Food & Wine

Cherry Tomato Mozzarella Toast from Helena Ljunggren

Ramen Noodles Photograph from Sang An

Grapes Photograph from Yinjia5

Stuffed French Toast with Cherries Photograph from Ben Dearnley (one of my favorite pro photographers)