Instant Pot Palak Kadhi Recipe

Palak Kadhi served in a bowl with tempering on the top with side of a rice

5 from 2 votes

Palak Kadhi or Indian spinach yogurt soup recipe is an easy and delicious curry where spinach puree is cooked in yogurt chickpea mixture and flavored with spices.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Keyword healthy, instant pot kadhi, palak kadhi

Diet Gluten-Free, Vegetarian

Method Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker, Stovetop

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Total Time 20

Servings

Calories 138kcal

Author Bhavana Patil

Equipment

Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker

Ingredients

For Palak Kadhi Mixture

2 cups spinach (palak)
1 inch ginger
3 green chillies
½ cup water to make the spinach puree
1 cup full fat sour curd (yogurt) Or katta dahi
2-3 tablespoon besan (chickpea flour)
2 cups water
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste

For Kadhi:

1 tablespoon ghee or oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
½ teaspoon cumin (jeera) seeds
¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)
3 dry red chillies
1 stalk curry leaves
a pinch asafetida (hing)
½ cup onion finely chopped (optional)
salt to taste
1 cup spinach (palak) finely chopped

Extra Tempering:

1 teaspoon ghee
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon red chilli powder

Instructions

Preparing Palak Yogurt Mixture:

Puree spinach (palak), ginger, green chilies with ½ cup of water in a blender to a smooth paste.
Whisk together the besan, yogurt, turmeric powder, and salt to a smooth batter.
Add pureed spinach, water and mix well. Keep aside.

To make Palak Kadhi in Instant Pot:

Press SAUTE on Instant Pot. Add oil/ghee, and once it's hot, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dry red chilies, fenugreek (methi seeds). Let them crackle.
Next, add asafetida, curry leaves and saute for 15 secs.
Then add chopped onion. Saute till onions turn light brown. This step is optional. I dint add onions to this recipe.
Add the spinach-yogurt-gram flour batter into the pot and mix well.
Place the trivet and then the bowl of rice with water. This way, they will both cook together.
Close the lid on the pot, and turn the pressure valve to SEALING position. Set the pot to SOUP (High Pressure) and increase the timer to 5 minutes.
We are using the SOUP setting to avoid the yogurt coming to a vigorous boil which could cause it to separate.
Once the pot beeps, let it release the pressure naturally(NPR) for 10 minutes.
Remove lid away from you, add chopped spinach. Stir it all up until spinach wilts. Also, adjust the consistency of the kadhi at this point. If it's thick, turn on SAUTE mode, add some water and simmer for 2 minutes.
Instant Pot Palak Kadhi or Indian Spinach Yogurt Soup is ready to enjoy with steamed rice, jeera rice.

To make Palak Kadhi on Stovetop pot:

Follow the same steps to make palak yogurt mixture as above.
Take a Kadai/pot. Add oil/ghee and once it’s hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dry red chilies, fenugreek (methi seeds). Let them crackle.
Next add asafoetida, curry leaves and saute for 15 secs.
Then add chopped onion. Saute till onions turn light brown in color. This step is optional.
Add the spinach-yogurt-gram flour batter into the pot. At this stage keep stirring continuously to avoid lumps and bring it to a boil.
Next, reduce the heat and simmer for 6 – 8 minutes, stirring at regular intervals to avoid the kadhi from curdling. If you find the kadhi too thick in consistency, add extra water.
Once done add chopped spinach. Stir it all up until spinach wilts.
Add extra ghee tempering on top if you wish and serve Palak Kadhi or Indian spinach yogurt soup hot with steamed rice.

Notes

I have prepared this dish in my electric pressure cooker, Instant Pot DUO60 6 QT.

Tips & Variations

Use sour curd, if you do not have sour curd then keep the yogurt at room temperature for 2-3 hours or add lime juice, in the end, to make the kadhi sour.
Cook the Kadhi in a SOUP setting to avoid the yogurt coming to a vigorous boil which could cause it to separate.OR you can also cook on PRESSURE COOK mode (low pressure) for 8-10 minutes.
Use full-fat yogurt.
You can also prepare besan pakodas and add them to the gravy just before serving.
If the palak kadhi splits, then add more besan that has been mixed with water to make a paste and recook the kadhi.

Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.

Nutrition