Preheat oil in a pot for frying pakoras.

Take chickpea flour in a small mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients and finely chopped onions, and add some water (about ¼ cup) to make batter of thick consistency. Start with little water then add more if you need more after mixing it. The consistency is not too thick and not runny.

Drop dollops of batter with a spoon or hands in the hot oil and fry the pakoras/fritters until golden and crispy on medium heat. They should be cooked on medium heat so that they get cooked from inside too. Remove them on absorbent paper.

In a mixing glass, add yogurt and chickpea flour and whisk it until it looks smooth and there are no lumps in them.

Meanwhile, in another pan heat up some oil at slow to medium heat; add cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Let them crackle and then add asafetida if you have some on hand, if you do not have its okay. Also, if you want to make it gluten free then please do not use asafetida. Add some whole red chilies to it. And, immediately add the whisked yogurt mix. Followed by 1 ½ of cups of water. Mix it well.

Add red chili and turmeric powder, salt to taste. Let it cook for few minutes and keep stirring it once in a while. Add crushed dried fenugreek leaves, totally optional. If the gravy thickens up too much, then you can add some more water. It should be thick and saucy. As it cools down, it does thicken up more.

Keep the flame slow. Add the fritters and let it cook for couple more minutes. If you are not ready to serve it immediately then add fritters only before 10-15 minutes of serving. They will get too soggy and soak up the kadhi.

Add some lemon juice and garnish it with cilantro leaves.

Serve it hot with Basmati rice, chapati or roti.