Lotus root! I have seen it, eaten it as chips but I haven’t really cooked with it. Actually, I didn’t know how to cook with it. So when Priya asked me to use Lotus root and curd / yogurt in a vegetarian dish, what did i do? I googled – lotus root and yogurt-oh my, the land of Kashmiri recipes came up with a variety of Kashmiri Nadru Yakhni. After going through a lot of recipes, here is my version of Kashmiri Nadru Yakhni (Lotus root in Yogurt sauce). This post is for Ssshhh Cooking Secretly Challenge. I was Paired with Priya, who gave me the root and curd as the core ingredients to prepare a delicious dish.
Kashmiri Nadru Yakhni is a very typical Kashmiri style dish, which does not contain onions or garlic. The typical taste to this dish is because of the addition of various aromatics such as cloves, cinnamon and black cardamom.
Getting the main ingredient (Lotus root) proved quite difficult in our area. I searched for quite a few days in various shops and then ultimately found in it”My Mark” stores. As you can imagine, have only eaten slices of lotus root as chips…i did not know what to expect when i went to buy it. It looked like thick stick with closed ends on both sides. The guy at the counter was sweet and explained to me the way that the root needs to be cut and cleaned…phew!!! Now, that the initial part of “purchasing” of ingredients was over, the real work starts…cleaning…well we are not near cooking as of yet 🙂
CLEANING THE LOTUS ROOT
First, wash the lotus root from the outside, then slice them diagonally and then submerge all the sliced pieces in water for about 30 mins. This would generally remove most of the dirt from with the root…but if there are places where it is still not clean…cotton buds are the way to go..Now that the cleaning / prep work is completed..let us prepare some delicious Kashmiri Nadru Yakhni / lotus root in yogurt sauce…this dish can be easily paired with rice or rotis.
Psst …the beauty of this recipe..it’s a one pot / cooker recipe…

Servings |
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- 1 cup lotus root (cleaned and sliced)
- 1 cup fresh yogurt
- 1 tsp Besan/ gram flour
- 2 nos green cardamon
- 1 nos black cardamon
- 2 tbsp Ghee / clarified butter
- 1 tsp dry ginger powder
- 2 tsp fennel seeds powder (dry roast the seeds and then powder)
- 1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1 nos green chilli (slit)
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1/4th tsp Hing/ asafoetida powder
- 1 cup water
- Salt (according to taste)
- 1 tbsp Coriander leaves (finely chopped)
Ingredients
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- Clean and slice the lotus root s and set aside
- In a small cooker, heat 1 tbsp of ghee and add all the aromatic spices and mix well
- Add the lotus roots and mix well with the aromatics
- Now add the salt, green chillies and water and let it simmer for 2 minutes
- Now close the cooker and the lotus steam cook in the spices. Let it cook for at least 5 -6 whistles and then set it aside
- Once the cooker cools down, open the cooker and add a pinch of fennel seed powder, and mixture of yogurt and besan
- Mix all the ingredients and let the sauce simmer for another 10-15 minutes
- To finish, add some chopped coriander leaves as garnish and serve with cooked rice or rotis
22 comments
The yakhni looks really good! I’m sure it tasted great as well! 🙂
Thank you Priya..yes this Yakhni nadru was simple and nice 🙂
Very well prepared nadru dish.. love it. Even in Sindhi cuisine we have a variety of dishes with lotus stem.
Thank you Shobha…was not aware of lotus root usage in sindhi cuisine…would love to know more about it…
Lotus root… I love your recipe, now to search for some lotus root.
Thank you Seema, yup search and clean 🙂
Yakhini rocks that too with fresh lotus stems, such a inviting dish.. Well done.
Thank you Priya…my first time using Nadru 🙂
A perfect dish for the Kashmiri theme! Kashmiri Nadru Yakhni sounds flavourful with all the spices, and easy to make (once the roots are cleaned, as per your instructions, that is!)
yup cleaning is the key…loved making the nadru..such a different texture lotus root gives to the dish
Wash under a high pressure jet and your nadru gets cleaner easier. As for the yakhni it is delicious. I love the pictures they are so amazing.
oh yes thats a good idea, i am trying very hard on getting better pics..so your words are a great motivation…thank you for visiting my page..
I love lotus root and this would be a great recipe to try. Yup! cleaning the root is an art and occasionally a task 🙂
Yakhni looks so flavourful and tempting. I can feel the taste and flavour. Perfect for the theme. Great share.
Definitely something that I don’t cook with. Hats if to you on trying and being successful.
I love lotus stem curries..have tried one ..but not with yogurt..this yakhini looks so good..I am sure it is flavorful !
Have always seen this but never eaten it. Looks delicious
hvme too..had never used this vegetable till this time..do try it out 🙂
This looks delicious, I do need to try this
thank you Jayashree
This curry looks so delicious and flavorful. Bookmarked it and I am going to try this next time I buy lotus root.
Anu…do try it and let me know how it turned out 🙂