When you're met with resistance, try Dahi Kadhi
Because starting (or re-starting) doesn't need to be with the hardest thing ever.
For a while this year, I developed the most coveted of writing skills. Consistency. A writing streak.
Just look at the progress I made toward my dream cookbook!
But then I went on holiday.
It’s been three weeks since I’ve been back. But at that time, the ugly monster that is “the resistance” met my lizard brain on a Tinder date and hit it off like a Diwali firecracker just waiting to burst.
I need to read this new Indian cookbook cover to cover before my next post
I need to master Substack’s notes before I write again
I need to upgrade all the utensils in my kitchen so I can take good food photos
These are just some of the many thought loops inside my brain while I took the better part of three weeks to unpack our six suitcases (because who gets on with regular work until the bags are unpacked, not me).
But then I came across
’s writing who is this month sharing a spotlight on yoghurt. And it hit me that I was over-complicating this.To overcome my grief over my lost writing streak, I needed simple.
If I’m making a cake for my son, it need not be the triple-layer one with chocolate mousse and tri-colour fondant. And if I’m getting into the kitchen after a while, I don’t have to cook the biryani that requires 20 different ingredients (and preferably use a mortar-pestle to hand grind those spices).
Because that’s not how we start new things. Or, in my case, restart old ones.
We start by taking a small step, dipping just the big toe.
Cooking with things we already have in our pantry or fridge. Writing whatever diatribe is going on in our heads instead of attempting that perfect book chapter.
Which brings me to Dahi Kadhi.
Kadhi is not the same as curry. At least not the spicy tomato curry – possibly with chicken – that’s coming to your mind as you read this. Rather, kadhi is a simple yoghurt-based vegetarian curry commonly served in Gujarati, Sindhi and Rajasthani Indian homes.
It’s also the Indian dish I resisted cooking with the same fervour that I resisted writing this post. It’s too hard. The yoghurt always splits when I try it. I can’t get the balance right. You make it so much better than me.
I’ve tried them all.
Until one day, I just made it. And surprised myself.
My Kadhi tasted delicious and came together in 10 minutes.
Why had I been resisting it for so long? This was awesome!
Made with just a handful of spices - literally four! - dahi kadhi is easy to digest and perfect for:
when you’re not feeling 100%
want that hug-in-a-bowl feeling from your food
are building up your Indian cooking confidence
You can make it fancy and fry up some onion bhajjis to dip into the kadhi.
But it tastes good simple too. With a bowl of rice and some microwave-toasted poppadums on the side.
Go take that first step. Like I just did.
Dahi Kadhi (serves 4)
3 tbsp chickpea flour
2 tbsp ghee
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp turmeric powder
12-16 fresh curry leaves
1 tsp jaggery powder (but sugar will do too)
400 gm plain yoghurt (at room temperature)
250 ml water
Salt to taste
Optional: 1 dried red or green chilli, slit and sliced thinly
Mix the room-temperature yoghurt, chickpea flour and turmeric powder in a bowl. Gradually add the required amount of water and whisk together. If the mixture is too thick, add more water so the mixture is to a consistency of your liking.
Add the yoghurt mixture to a saucepan and heat it on low until it simmers.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the ghee until very hot. Quickly add the mustard, cumin, green chilli, and curry leaves. The seeds and leaves will pop and bubble; this is normal. Switch off the heat and take the saucepan off the stove so the spices don’t burn.
Add the tempered ghee mixture to the yoghurt mixture. Add in the sugar and then season with salt.
On low heat, allow the kadhi to simmer once again. Keep stirring to ensure the yoghurt doesn’t split.
Serve hot with steamed rice.
I have Write of Passage to thank for my writing streak and the progress I’ve made with my writing.
If you’re looking for a life-changing writing course to accelerate you into the world of online writing do check out Write of Passage. They have new intakes every few months. This is an affiliate link to register.
P.S. if you’re looking for new people to follow, I highly recommend following
, and who write some amazing stuff right here on Substack.
Wow, thanks for the shout out and the mouth-watering recipes!
Awh Perzen, this brought brightness to my day. Thank you ♥️ I hope to see your smiling face in cohort 11