The Indian subcontinent · Volume 20, The Merchant’s Thali, the Konkan Tide and a Kitchen from Persia
Sol Kadhi
Maharashtra, the Konkan coast
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 20 minutes
- Researched
- No outside sources linked
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Kokum soaked in water, its liquid combined with coconut milk, green chilli, garlic and coriander ground through, salted, chilled, and drunk after or alongside a rich fish meal rather than served as a course in its own right.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 20 minutes, plus chilling.
Ingredients
- 8 to 10 pieces dried kokum
- 300ml water, warm
- 300ml coconut milk
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 green chilli
- 10g fresh coriander
- to taste salt
Method
- Soak the kokum in the warm water 15 minutes, then squeeze and strain, reserving the deep pink liquid.
- Grind the garlic, green chilli and coriander to a smooth paste.
- Whisk the paste, kokum liquid and coconut milk together, season with salt.
- Chill well before serving, in small glasses or bowls, alongside or after the meal.
What a modern chef changes
A cleaner extraction, and real restraint on the garnish
Rung 3, adapted
Method
- Extract the coconut milk fresh in a high-power blender and strain through a chinois, for a genuinely silky texture beyond what a standard sieve gives.
- Infuse the kokum liquid cold rather than warm, steeping overnight in the refrigerator, for a cleaner, less bitter extraction.
- Serve in small chilled glasses as a formal course, a deliberate elevation of its everyday role as a poured-alongside digestive, letting its own colour and clarity stand on their own.