Tamarind Soup
Photo: Ajna Jai / Contributor
The province of Sindh, now entirely in Pakistan and the homeland of my parents, has its roots in the Indus valley civilization. For the people of Sindh, a community uprooted and dispersed by the Partition of 1947, cooking provided a vital connection to their homeland. Their kitchens, with their distinct recipes and ingredients, helped anchor them to the places they adopted as new homes. For most Sindhis, this tamarind fragrant soup, or Sindhi kadhi, as it is called, is synonymous with a lazy Sunday afternoon lunch. Usually eaten with steamed rice and sweet laddus, this was one of my favorite memories of growing up in a traditional Sindhi household. This soup has endless possibilities. The soup is light, yet the chickpea roux adds tremendous flavor but if you want to add meat, add 1 to 2 chicken legs along with the vegetables. Once the chicken has cooked, remove the pieces, pull the meat out and add it back to the soup.