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Regional delicacies are not just the best way to be reminded of the regional culture, but also serve you some of the best of tastes! One such delicacy from the state of Rajasthan and something that has been a regular in my household has been Kadhi-meetha daliya aka meethi thuli (Yogurt based curry soup with cracked wheat jaggery porridge). A complete meal in itself, this can also be eaten as a dessert if having as jaggery porridge, garnished with nuts of choice.

With twice as much fiber than rice, cracked wheat has many health benefits with its richness in vitamins, minerals and fiber. It is particularly helpful in chronic diseases, weight loss and healthy digestion. It is super easy to cook and can also be used in salads, soups and breads as a substitute to quinoa. While quinoa contains 8 gm protein per cup and cracked wheat has 4 gm protein, calorie wise cracked wheat has as much protein as quinoa.

Ingredients:

Kadhi:

• 1 cup yogurt
• 2.5 tbsp gram flour
• 1.5 cup water
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1.5 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• ¼ tsp methi dana (optional)
• 8-10 curry leaves
• 1 small cinnamon stick
• ½ tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 chopped green chili
• 1 tbsp ghee (garnish)
• ½ tsp Kashmiri red chili powder (garnish)
• 1 small dry red chili (garnish)

Jaggery porridge:

• 1 cup cracked wheat / porridge
• 1-1.5 cup jaggery (broken)
• 2-2.5 tbsp ghee
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 cup water

Procedure:

Kadhi:

• In a bowl, whisk well yogurt, gram flour/besan, water
• Add salt, turmeric and red chilli powder to this batter. This is kadhi batter (yogurt based curry batter)
• In a pan, add oil and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, methi dana and cinnamon stick. After 2 min, add ginger-garlic paste, green chili and curry leaves. Let it cook for 3-4 min. Add kadhi batter and continuously stir it until thickening starts
• Put the red chilli (kashmiri and dry) simmering in 1 tbsp ghee on top for garnishing/flavoring

Jaggery porridge:

• Roast craked wheat in a pan with ghee on medium flame, until it turns golden brown
• Immediately after, add 4 cups of hot water
• Add salt and jaggery and allow it to cook for 5-7 min after covering with a lid. All the water will be soaked and it will be well cooked (make sure it doesn’t stick / burn at the bottom). Add nuts for garnish if you like
• Serve hot with piping hot kadhi

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