Buttermilk Sauce (Karhi)
Ingredients
600 ml/20 fl oz/2 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
30 g/1 oz/1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
2 finely chopped green chillies, seeds removed
2 tablespoons besan (chick pea flour)
125 ml/4 fl oz/1/2 cup cold water
1 tablespoon ghee or oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
2 dried red chillies
1/2 teaspoon powdered asafoetida (optional)
Directions
In a saucepan heat buttermilk with turmeric, sugar, salt, coriander and chillies, stirring now and then.
Mix the besan with cold water until smooth, stir into the buttermilk and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Mixture will thicken. In a small pan heat ghee or oil. Fry the cumin and mustard seeds and the dried chillies broken into pieces with seeds shaken out. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add the asafoetida and stir quickly into the buttermilk. Serve with rice, or as a soup.
Recipe excerpted from Encyclopedia of Asian Food by Charmaine Solomon (Periplus Editions, 1998)