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.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 10 minutes
  • Total time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

For Palak Kadhi Mixture

  • 2 cups spinach (palak)
  • 1 inch ginger
  • 3 green chillies
  • 1/2 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
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • salt (to taste)

For Kadhi:

  • 1 tablespoon ghee or oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin (jeera) seeds
  • 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)
  • 3 dry red chillies
  • 1 stalk curry leaves
  • a pinch asafetida (hing)
  • 1/2 cup onion (finely chopped (optional))
  • salt (to taste)
  • 1 cup spinach (palak) (finely chopped)

Extra Tempering:

  • 1 teaspoon ghee
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder

Method

Preparing Palak Yogurt Mixture:

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

To make Palak Kadhi in Instant Pot:

  1. 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.
  2. Next, add asafetida, curry leaves and saute for 15 secs.
  3. Then add chopped onion. Saute till onions turn light brown. This step is optional. I dint add onions to this recipe.
  4. Add the spinach-yogurt-gram flour batter into the pot and mix well.
  5. Place the trivet and then the bowl of rice with water. This way, they will both cook together.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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:

  1. Follow the same steps to make palak yogurt mixture as above.
  2. 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.
  3. Next add asafoetida, curry leaves and saute for 15 secs.
  4. Then add chopped onion. Saute till onions turn light brown in color. This step is optional.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Once done add chopped spinach. Stir it all up until spinach wilts.
  8. Add extra ghee tempering on top if you wish and serve Palak Kadhi or Indian spinach yogurt soup hot with steamed rice.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.