Solkadhi or Soul Curry???
The long weekend brought a much needed break from work, studying and blogging. South beach was a lot of fun but so is cooking up a new dish. So here i am with a refreshing recipe for the A-Z of Indian vegetable series hosted by the inspirational and creative Nupur of OneHotStove. The suggestion to make solkadhi came from my brother-in-law, Ani. Ani is an enthusiastic and a good cook himself. When he suggested that i make solkadhi- i was clueless. I had never even heard of solkadhi before. It was sweet of Ani to look up the recipe for me and dredge up memories of the solkadhi that he had had at friends's places before. I have mostly followed Nupur's recipe to a T- the only change being the quantity of some ingredients and the tempering. I came up with two different versions of the solkadhi- one with the tempering (as Ani and my sis-in-law, Priyatai both have had it) and one without tempering (i found majority of the blogs with recipes without any tempering including Nupur's).
Solkadhi also called Soul curry, is a flavorful Konkani curry dish made from coconut milk and kokum. It is usually served cold with fried fish or plain rice. It can also be had as an appetiser or after dinner drink.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk
8-10 kokum
3 green chillies
2 tbs coriander
2 cloves garlic
5-6 peppercorns
salt to taste
For tempering:
2 tsp ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
6-7 curry leaves
For garnish:
2 tbs coriander
1. Boil 1/2 cup of water and pour it over the 8-10 kokums in a bowl. Let it soak for 1 hour. (I did not use 1 cup water or squeeze the juice out of the kokum as P doesn't like anything that is too sour). The water will be pink in color.
2. Coarsely crush the garlic, green chillies and coriander and add it to the kokum water. Let the flavors seep in for another hour or so.
3. Then add the coconut milk, mix properly and drain it through a sieve. (You can then just add salt and garnsih with coriander and serve chilled or temper it as mentioned below)
4. Heat 2 tbs of ghee, add cumin seeds and when they crackle, add the curry leaves. Pour it over the coconut milk- kokum mixture. Add salt as per taste. Garnish with coriander.
5. Serve chilled with rice.
3. Then add the coconut milk, mix properly and drain it through a sieve. (You can then just add salt and garnsih with coriander and serve chilled or temper it as mentioned below)
4. Heat 2 tbs of ghee, add cumin seeds and when they crackle, add the curry leaves. Pour it over the coconut milk- kokum mixture. Add salt as per taste. Garnish with coriander.
5. Serve chilled with rice.
I served it with Masale Bhaat. Both versions of the solkadhi turned out pretty well. However, the curry leaves and cumin seeds added a slightly different flavor to the kadhi. And the final result: Lipsmackingly delicious. The combination of coconut and kokum with all the spices brought out wonderful flavors and blended in smoothly with the masale bhaat.
Oh so you made both varieties! I haven't seen a more enthu cook than you!! Glad you liked it. Next time try it with fish ;-)
Thank you for your compliments. However, I am better off sticking to masale bhaat or rice. Fish wouldnt go down very well with me.
It looks delicious! Solkadhi is perfect for these summer months :) Thanks for trying my recipe (actually my aunt's recipe)!
I am not that familiar with Marathi cuisine. When I saw the name, I thought you made a kadhi. I had no idea that a savory dish could be prepared using coconut milk.Thanks for the recipe.
thats a very new one to me. sounds authentic. thanks for the recipe.
Suma, Sharmi,
Thanks a lot. Although it should be Nupur who shld be thanked. After all i tried her recipe. Despite being a Maharashtrian, i had never heard of solkadhi before either, bcoz of being brought up in Gujarat. I guess there are certain recipes from each regional cuisine which go unnoticed because of being less known, but are very delectable.
I've had this somewhere as a child... konkani folks also make this... and I've eattn it in someone's house. Just recently, I was explaining to my husband what kokum is.
Post a Comment