Karhi
Preparation time : 60 minutes | Serves 10 persons

This recipe of karhi is very common in India as well as in Pakistan and is prepared in many ways. The variations in this recipe is due to the usage of different kind of pakoras for instance; vegetable pakora, plain pakora or  even pakora made from meat balls. In this recipe, karhi is being made with plain pakora which is the most common version of this karhi and is cooked in most of the South Asian region quite frequently.

Ingredients:
For Curry:

3 medium size onions (cut in large pieces)
1 tbspn ginger paste
1 tbspn garlic paste
2 tsbpn red chili powder
1 tspn turmeric powder
1 tspn coriander powder
1/2 tspn fennugreek seeds
Salt to taste
1 cup oil
750 gm yogurt
150 gm gram flour

For Pakora:
1/4 cup small red lentils
1/2 cup gram lentils
Pinch of baking soda
1 tbspn red chili powder
1 tspn turmeric powder
1 tbspn cumin powder
1 tspn black pepper powder
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

For Extra Flavoring (Tarka):
5-6 curry leaves
1/2 tbspn cumin seeds
3-4 dry red peppers
3 tbspn oil

Calphalon Contemporary Nonstick 2-1/2-Quart Shallow Saucepan with Lid
Anolon Advanced Ultimate 12-Inch Covered Stir-Fry Pan
Hamilton Beach 62695V Power Deluxe Hand Mixer

Procedure:
For Making Pakora:

1. Soak both type of lentils in water for overnight.
2. Now blend them together to make a smooth paste using minimum quantity of water. The paste should be very thick. Using a quality blender will save you lot of time and will also allow you to make your meal easily and effectively. According to recent market surveys, a countertop blender seems to produce better results than a handheld blender.
3. Beat the lentils paste for using blender for 10 minutes. Add and mix all the spices mentioned for making pakora.
4. In a deep frying pan, heat oil to moderate temperature. Now using your hands pour the batter in small acicular shape, you may use spoon for doing so.
5. When they are cooked from one side and turn them and fry for at least 5 minutes till become light brown. The pakora should be soft and crispy from outside and it depends on how much you have beated the plain lentils batter.
6. Take out all the fried pakora in a plate.

For Making Curry:
1. Blend onion in a blender and make smooth paste using water and take out in a bowl.
2. Make another paste of graham flour and yogurt in the blender.
3. Heat oil in a deep sauce pan, fry fenugreek seeds in the oil for a minute so that they become dark brown.
4. Now in oil, add onion paste, ginger garlic paste, red chili powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder. Cook the mixture on medium heat for at least 10 minutes to make gravy.
5. When oil starts to bubbling in the gravy, add yogurt and graham flour paste with 3 glass of water and stir constantly. The gravy should be thin after adding water so quantity of water may vary.
6. Cook the gravy on medium high flame and stir continuously until it starts to boil otherwise lumps would form in the gravy.
7. After that, add salt according to your taste and let it cook on medium flame for farther to become slightly dense gravy.
8. When the gravy become denser, add the pakora in the gravy and cook on low flame.
9. For extra flavoring, heat oil in a fry pan, and fry curry leaves, cumin seeds and dry red pepper for 2 minutes and spread all the fried stuff with oil on the pakora gravy. Switch off the flame.


Serving:
Delicious Karhi with pakora is ready to be served with boiled rice or chapati.