The Indian subcontinent · Volume 20, The Merchant’s Thali, the Konkan Tide and a Kitchen from Persia
Sol Kadhi
Maharashtra, the Konkan coast
Illustration
- Time
- 45 minutes
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
Makes about 1½ cups. Soak 30 to 45 minutes.
Ingredients
- 7 to 8 aamsul (dried kokum)
- 120 ml hot water
- 240 ml coconut milk
- 1 to 2 green chillies, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ½ tsp cumin seeds, lightly pounded
- to taste salt
For the tempered version
- ½ tsp ghee
To serve
- ½ tsp cumin powder
Method
- Soak the aamsul in the hot water 30 to 45 minutes. Crush them in the same water and strain.
- Crush the coriander and chilli in a bowl with a pinch of salt.
- For the plain version, stir the kokum water, coriander and chilli, garlic and pounded cumin into the coconut milk. Salt to taste.
- For the tempered version, stir in everything but the cumin. Heat the ghee in a small pan, add the pounded cumin, and pour it into the coconut milk.
- Serve cold, or warm it just lukewarm over a very low heat; never let it get hot.
- Sprinkle with cumin powder as you serve. Stirred in earlier, it changes the colour.
Notes
The recipe is Vaidehi Bhave's, from her Marathi blog Chakali, republished by Sakal in 2020. Sharvari Joshi's Malvani sol kadhi in eSakal (1 August 2021) grinds fresh grated coconut with 5 or 6 garlic cloves, two green chillies, ginger if you like, salt and sugar, presses the milk through a cloth twice, and colours it with kokum agal to taste. Lokmat Sakhi soaks 10 to 12 kokum half an hour and chills the result.
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.