Sodhi is a classic dish from Tirunelveli, South India. It is a coconut milk based vegetable curry and its a kind of Indian version of Thai Green Curry. It holds a definite place in every wedding feast in Tirunelveli. It happens for 3 days. Sodhi Sappadu is the final day lunch, which is served on behalf of boy's side to girl's side and their guest. Because of this, it is called Mapillai Sodhi. Coming to the recipe, method of making sodhi vary from one home to other home. Here I used carrot, potato, drumsticks, coconut milk, moong dal and other ingredients are garlic and green chillies to make this authentic dish. Sodhi is supposed to be thin and watery but I like it thick. Best accompaniment for this dish are ginger chutney and potato fry or potato chips. Ginger chutney is given as a side dish to help for easy and quick digestion as coconut milk added is rich, creamy and heavy to stomach.
Ingredients
1 Coconut, Big
2 Carrots, Cut lengthwise
7 Drumsticks, pieces
2 Medium Size Potatoes, Diced
2 Tbsp of Moong Dal
15 Small Onion, Chopped
3-4 Green Chillies, Slit
3 Garlic Cloves, Big
1/2 Tsp of Turmeric Powder
2 Tsp of Lemon Juice
To Temper
2 Tsp of Oil
1 Tsp of Mustard Seeds
1 Tsp of Urad Dal
1 Sprig of Curry Leaves
Method
- Wash and chop the vegetables, keep this aside.
- Slit the green chillies and chop the garlic cloves.
- In a pan, add the moong dal with enough water and cook until it turns soft. Mash it with a spoon and keep this aside.
- Grate the coconut and transfer this to a mixie /blender. Grind it by adding little water. Strain it with a strainer and extract the thick coconut milk, it will be around 1 cup and keep this aside. Add some more water to the coconut residue and grind it again and strain and take out the second milk. Repeat this one more time and add water, grind it and strain it and take out the third coconut milk. Mix both 2nd and 3rd thin coconut milk in a bowl. Keep this aside.
- Heat a pan, add chopped onion fry this for few mins until it turns golden brown.
- Add green chillies and garlic, fry this for few mins, add all the vegetables, turmeric powder and salt, fry this for few mins, add thin coconut milk. In a medium flame, cover and cook this vegetables until it turns soft about 7-10 mins.
- Add cooked and mashed moong dhal, mix well, bring it to a boil, now reduce the flame and add the thick coconut milk, stir well along with vegetables and cook for another 3-5 mins and turn off the flame. After 5 mins, add the lemon juice, mix well.
- Heat a pan with oil, add all the ingredients listed under " To Temper" after mustard seeds splutter, transfer the tempering ingredients to sodhi, mix well.
- Serve this with hot rice and accompanied by ginger chutney and potato chips or potato fry. Also great side dish for appam and idiyappam.
Tips
Ginger Chutney
Ginger chutney is very easy to make and delicious in taste. It is very good for digestion. It goes well with sodhi, idly or dosa
Ingredients
100 gms of Ginger
2 Tbsp of Urad Dal
2-3 Red Chillies
1 Sprig of Curry Leaves
Pinch of Jaggery (Vellam)
Salt to Taste
Method
Tips
Health Benefits of Ginger
- Other vegetables that can be used are green beans and peas.
- If you are not in a mood to extract the coconut milk, in that case get canned coconut milk from near by supermarket. If you are in abroad, you can get this in Thailand grocery store. For thin coconut milk, just add enough water to the thick and rich canned coconut milk. I tried this method, it tastes awesome.
- If you want your sodhi to be thin, just add little more water and cook for few mins.
- Addition of moong dal is optional. It just thickens the sodhi.
- Tempering also optional. Because my mother in law used to add it for flavor but my mom like it plain.
Ginger Chutney
Ginger chutney is very easy to make and delicious in taste. It is very good for digestion. It goes well with sodhi, idly or dosa
Ingredients
100 gms of Ginger
2 Tbsp of Urad Dal
2-3 Red Chillies
1 Sprig of Curry Leaves
Pinch of Jaggery (Vellam)
Salt to Taste
Method
- Heat a pan with oil, add red chillies, curry leaves, urad dal and ginger, saute this for 2-3 mins. Turn off the flame. Let it cool down for 5 mins. After that, transfer this to mixie, along with jaggery, grind it to a smooth paste.
Tips
- Don't burn the urad dal while frying, as it causes bitter taste.
- Adjust the number of red chillies and salt according to your taste.
- Adding jaggery enriches the taste as ginger and red chillies are spicy in nature.
Health Benefits of Ginger
- Improves the absorption and assimilation of nutrients in the body.
- Feeling nauseous ? chew on ginger, preferably tossed in honey.
- It has anti-inflammatory properties.
- Haven't been feeling hungry...Eat fresh ginger before lunch to stoke dull appetite and fires up the digestive juices.
