BM # 27   Day 13
Traditional : Kutchi Bhatia

When I say Kutchi, the first thing. That normally comes to the mind is the Kutchi Dabeli….right?

Kutchi is a cast originating from the Sindh province and Rajasthan. The Kutchi ‘s living in Kutch are the Kutchi Bhatia’s. Their cuisine is a mix of Sindhi and Gujarati. Even the Kutchi language is a mix of Sindhi and Gujarati. Inspite of the similarities of Gujarati and Sindhi an interesting cuisine has been evolved by them . There is a marked difference in the cuisines. The Gujarati food is on the sweeter side, oily and heavily spiced, but Kutchi food is a balance of all flavors salty, sweet, spicy and tangy.

Today I have made Bhatia Kadi which I learnt some 10 years ago. With no recipe in hand and something made only once it was hard for me to come up with this dish, but I guess the taste buds speak.The taste of that Kadi has lingering  flavors, a taste which is actually hard to forget. I must have had this curry a number of times, prepared by our friend’s mother….but again some 10 years back, and cooked only once….Yes 10 years back!!

A cuisine which has hardly been explored. Tarla Dalal has come up with a Bhatia Curry recipe, which has pigeon pea, but my friend tells me that the authentic one does not have any daal. For the 13th day of this month’s BM you have a Kutchi Bhatia Kadi.

Bhatia Kadi
1 cup gram flour ( besan )
2 1/2 liters water
Blend the gram flour with water
Keep aside.

Tempering
1 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp mustard seed
1/4 tsp asafoetida
5-6 green chillies , finely chopped
1″ piece ginger , finely chopped
3-4 dried whole red chilly
Few curry leaves

Other ingredients
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd
5-6 kokum flowers
A small piece jaggery
Salt to taste

Veggies
10-12 cluster beans, sides trimmed and cut into two
10- 12 lady fingers, washed , wiped trimmed top and bottom and slit
1 small potato, peeled and cubed
1 ripe banana, cut into roundels
Hand full of chick peas, soaked overnight

How to go about
Heat oil.
Add all the tempering ingredients in the order hey have been mentioned.
Immediately add the gram flour water.
Let boil.
Add salt and turmeric pwd.
Cook on very slow fire for 10 minutes.
Add chick peas and let cook till the peas are 75 % done.
Add kokum flowers and jaggery.
Add cluster beans and potatoes.Let cook till these are 90 % cooked.
Add lady fingers and cook till soft.
Add the banana and switch off the gas, covering the Kadi with a lid.
Let the flavor of banana infuse.
Serve after five minutes.
The curry has a spicy, tangy and sweet flavor.All three flavors should be balanced , how ever if you want you can add or minus the spices according to your taste. We have to remember that the daal served with this is totally bland, so the curry needs to be little spicy to get the average chilly flavor.
Banana adds a unique and pleasing flavor to the Kadi, so do not opt  this out from the recipe.

Lachko Daal
1 cup moong daal, washed and soaked overnight
Salt to taste
Asafoetida
Boil the daal with salt and asafoetida, till mushy.
Using a wooden churned, churn the daal till absolutely smooth.
The daal consistency has to quite thick.


Serving Style
Put rice in a bowl.
Top with the mashed daal.
Pour Kadi on top.

AalooTook or crisp potato fries is the perfect combination to this Bhatia meal.


Kadi
 Rice

Lacko Daal
Aaloo Took

Serving Style

 The complete meal

Kutchi Bhatia Kadi

18 thoughts on “Kutchi Bhatia Kadi”

  1. Lovely spread Vaishali, some of the pictures are not loading, will check out again..Nice to read about Kutchi and the tradition..love your bowls..

  2. indeed a complete meal, eat and straight go to ur bed on a sunday afternoon, this is all new to me, i dont know where you dig out recipes from, this is surely getting fascinating by the day

  3. VAishali this is beautiful. The flavours you have described sound yum. But by Kokum flowers do you mean the kokum as Pradnya had given? also what abt aloo took what is that? Is it the integral part of the menu?

  4. Archana..the kokum flowers are different than the kokum itself..flowers are milder, and do not leave back that dark color in the curryWhat Pradnya got us are kokums!!
    .Aaloo took are crisp double fried potatoes..check on the link, have the recipe in my Sindhi Kadhi Chawaran post.absolutely addictive!!

  5. Love aloo tuk,since ever i tried them at home, am a great fan of it..Btw seriously am learning more from you, you are an encyclopedia Vaishali..beautiful spread.

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