Sol Kadhi

It was in the 90's I remember, we went to Goa, with my Ajji (Grandmother). Her best friend ( Kolwalkar Maushi, as we called her) lived very close to Calangute beach, in an old, traditional home.

The lifestyle was so very different from the busy life of Bombay. 

The old sprawling hose with the red stone floor which was cool to the feet even on the hottest day, with many rooms and old fashioned locks, a massive kitchen with a big sized mortar and pestle set in the floor. Though they had a mixie/ blender, this mortar and pestle were used, to lend food and authentic flavor. 

The two things that I absolutely loved in that old house, the kitchen, everything so traditional, so quaint and the old but sturdy rocking chair that we all took turns sitting in. 

When our hostess and my ajji were cooking, I'd stroll around the garden which had many trees, full of sweet smelling flowers or fruit, I remember plucking chikoo / sapota, washing it under the tap near the garden and eating it, so sweet! 

There was a fresh supply of coconuts and one evening, we were treated to Sol Kadhi. Now this was something I had never tasted in my life. So as it grew dark I sauntered into the kitchen and watched K Maushi sit on the floor with a mound of freshly shredded coconut, she was making coconut milk. It seemed a lengthy process, grinding the coconut in the stone mortar pestle, looked like fun. She let all of us take turns, my mom too, using something like this was a novelty in Bombay (Mumbai) and as a working woman, my mom rarely did something like this. 

I did some grinding, then my hands were tired, I relaxed in the rocking chair until called to dinner.

This is the one meal I remember, we all drank copious bowls of Sol Kadhi. It was so cooling and refreshing! 

All the hard work of an hour or more and gone in minutes! 

Years later, I made this in my kitchen in Los Angeles, with shortcuts. It was easy.
This summer, I introduced the same to my 7 year old. He was not so blown away, but the husband and I finished every drop.

Here is a tutorial if you want to make coconut milk from scratch.
I use a can.

The other shortcut is using Kokum Agal. This is easily available in Maharashtra ( and probably other states) but is difficult to get hold of, in the USA.

Picture from Google search option.

Here is how I made Sol Kadhi

Soak about 5-6 Kokum in warm water, if you can, do this over night, otherwise and hour.

Squeeze the kokum and extract the juice, discard the solids.

Shake thoroughly and open a can of coconut milk. 

Mix the coconut milk and kokum extract. Add salt and sugar to taste.

Grind 1 ( or to taste) Green Chili and 1 small clove of Garlic. Add it to the kadhi.

Heat 1 -2 tsp of Ghee.

Add 1 tsp of Cumin seeds. As the cumin sizzles and browns slightly, add 1/4 tsp of Asafetida and a few Curry leaves. Some people like to add a halved dry Red Chili, if you want, add it in at this stage. 

Pour the sizzling tempering / tadka on the kadhi, Mix well, Garnish with finely chopped Cilantro.

Typically, Sol Kadhi is pink in color, mine was pale, I believe it is because of the kokum I used.
When I made this Kokum Kadhi, I used superior quality Kokum ( given to me by a fellow blogger). However, with packaged ones from the store, one cannot really tell, I suppose.
The taste was perfect, but if you are a stickler for details, good quality kokum is a must.

Enjoy this easy to make and very tasty kadhi on a hot summer day!

Pin It

Green Noodles

An Indian on foreign turf, makes a beeline for the Indian grocery store, like a homing pigeon. He/she will fill the cart with all familiars like beans, legumes, rice and flours, chai biscuits et al. The bachelor will head to the ready-to-eat section, and unerringly stash his basket with frozen vegetable entrees and rotis/naan  and  then order his meal in the store-cum-restaurant, eat his fill.

The 'family' people stagger out with grocery and walk purposefully to pizza hut and stuff their hungry kids to the brim with pizza and heave a sigh of relief. A newly married couple will pick up items that are a mix of ready-to-eat and some 'experiment on spouse' items and then in all probability head out to a restaurant to try something 'different'. They walk in, uncertainly, into a fast food joint or restaurant and gaze at the menu with curious intensity. This uncertain couple are reflections of my former self, a good 6 years ago. I liked eating out as much as at home, the only hitch being, I was a vegetarian in a meat lovers land! What can I order without lengthy explanations of how I prefer my 'vegetarian' soup without it's chicken/beef stock? In a menu where egg or fish were considered vegetarian, I was treated like an oddball, chafing at the limited options I had, or so it seemed.

Sound familiar?

I haunted the local library for cookbooks, much like a family spectre, vanishing at closing time. I read them like novels, gazing lustily at the glossy pictures. Slowly, I stepped into the world of blogging to showcase my love for food and experimenting with flavors and try to replicate international recipes using Indian spices.  I was thrilled to discover, that using staples in my pantry, but with different proportions and technique, I had a completely new dish to serve up. Mexican, Caribbean, Thai food was suddenly an option and I was lovin’ it.  I discovered that we may be worlds apart, but many of these International cuisines used standard stuff I used in my Indian kitchen! What a thrill that was!

My focus was and still is, on simple recipes that do not require me to buy expensive or difficult-to-pronounce-and- procure ingredients, but mixing and matching what was in the fridge to a couple of store bought items, like the recipe I have for you today.


In fact, I have another sauce that can be used with the noodles and that is coming up soon!  Flat rice noodles, 2 ways. 


I like this sort of thing , two ways with one ingredient, when I bring in one packet of noodles, I can never finish it off at one go and  I do not want to repeat the same  recipe and so having an alternative is great.

Green Noodles

Recipe Courtesy:  Cara Hobday’s Noodles Asian Style. 

1 Garlic clove

1 Tsp. Salt

1 Tbsp. Black Peppercorns

2 oz. Fresh cilantro (leaves and stems)

2 Tbsp.  fresh Parsley, chopped

2 Scallions, chopped

1 fresh Red Chili, sliced (add more if you want the noodles to be HOT)

3 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon juice
2/3 cup Coconut Milk

2 Tbsp. Peanut butter

8 oz. Flat Rice Noodles

Lemon Quarters to serve

Make the sauce: Grind Garlic, salt, peppercorn and cilantro together. Add parsley, scallions and red chili and make a rough paste.

In a saucepan, add the above paste, lemon juice, coconut milk and peanut butter, mix well and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, boil water in another pan, switch off the heat and add noodles, cover and let it stand for 5 minutes or as per directions. Drain well.

Final assembly: Toss the noodles in the sauce until evenly coated. Serve immediately with lemon quarters.

Notes: 

·        The noodles are mild, if you want, amp up the heat by adding another red chili. Lemon juice is a must to add a burst of fresh flavor.

·      Leftovers make a great lunchbox option. The flavors soak into the noodles and taste great. Gently re-heat  before serving.

·         This is not a complete meal, add a protein on the side.

Pin It

Snacky- snacky!!!

It has been a surprising winter for us in L.A.. we had lots of rain!! While others are snow bound, we L.A'ites have none of that winter wonderland, so once in a while when it rains and the temperatures dip, we make the most of it!

If there is one thing I miss here, it is the monsoon season.. the gentle pitter-patter of rain, the rumbling thunder, that brilliant flash of lightening and yes, the occasional flooding which brings life to a stand still!

The happiest days of my child hood were when it rained cats and dogs, the streets would flood and those were the days I was VERY keen on going to school!! Wild horses could not keep me away! To traipse in the water logged streets, tear pages out of the Math notebook and float boats, squeal with laughter when a bicycle went by splashing water and finally find the school gates closed! Going back home to a hot Dettol bath and warm food and then spend the day watching the rain come down with a plate of snacks and a heap of comics ... Utopia!

Of course the favourite snack was pakodas, but when you are not old enough to be trusted with handling match-sticks, you have to be content with a bag of chips and everything else that you can lay your hands on! Even as a child I was very fond of 'kela wafer' or plantain chips and loved to munch on these when curled up with a book.

So when rain lashed the window pane , the flood of memories also brought a craving for plantain chips. It was a matter of minutes , I had one large plantain which I rapidly peeled and sliced thin on the mandolin. While this was happening, heat oil in a kadhai/ wok. Once the oil is hot, deep fry the chips to a crisp. Remove onto a paper towel to absorb excess oil, lightly sprinkle and toss with salt . Grab a plateful , open the book , read and munch!!

After having munched and munched on the chips, we really did not have too much space for a proper dinner, something light and not too much fuss seemed to be the solution. Glancing thru the snacks section of Chandra Padmanabhan's Dakshin, I came across this 'Potato Dosa' , this was an instant dosa and that always is a hit with me! No fermentation!

For the Dosa:

2 Large Potatoes
1 cup Rice Flour
1/2 cup Yogurt
1-2 Green chillies minced
fistful of finely chopped Cilantro
Salt to taste
Oil to make Dosa

Cook the potatoes ( pressure cook or microwave them). Peel and mash them. Add all the remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly using sufficient water to make a regular dosa batter. Heat a tawa/ skillet. Make dosas !!! Serve hot with chutney .

Though this dosa makes a nice snack, the only difficulty I had with it was flipping it.. some broke / tore halfway, not that I am complaining!

To end on a sweet note, I made this dessert on Sunday. Basically anything that requires the oven, is frankly intimidating to me. Where the Daring Bakers turn out these WONDERFUL things, all I can do is gape! I was looking for something minimalistic and manageable. Now when I am bracing myself for an adventure like this, I like to read a few recipes which sound simple but more importantly have portions that are small too, small enough to experiment. Googling for a Caramel Custard recipe I came across Nupur's version and she made it sound like I could do it! It sounded soooooo good!

Can I? Can't I?? You see, there was this one time, my cousin and I in a fit of enthusiasm and ignorance, tried making this dessert, but that was with a ready pack with simple sounding instructions, so simple that we thought it was idiot-proof! To cut a long story short, the caramel custard looked as bad as it tasted and when set on a plate expired there with a 'glooop', needless to say, we had a hushed up funeral for it and later dug noisily into cartons of ice-cream, scraping the bottom with the wodden scoops.
So this time around, when the husband was in the office (on a weekend, mark you, it is so annoying when all problems crop up on a saturday and the boss calls you in for an hour or two), I tackled this recipe. I followed every word and every step...right down to even taking the picture the way Nupur did, I was that nervous! One wrong step and it would go 'glooop' was a warning that buzzed my ears! But... but!!!! check it out folks!!!

Yes, Yes, Yes!!! Ta-Dah!! I did it!! Jai ho!! Nupur ki jai ho!!!! This is one recipe I am going to hang on to!!! Perhaps the caramel could have been a shade darker, but as the recipe warned, there is a thin line between caramel and charcoal, I was very careful!

M loved the caramel custard!! Not too sweet, just how he likes it!! In fact this was all that was left for the photograph! I cannot wait to try it again!!

On a more serious note: Thank U all for your concern over my previous post. Looks like honesty is not the 'in' thing these days.. sadly the thief in concern has not removed my picture, she first claimed that her son was unwell, so she was busy, but since them she has had time to make a few more videos. It is sad that a woman should 'use' her small son to shield her dishonesty. Don't know what the world is coming to, I no longer feel so bad about the stolen picture, but more so for her son and the wrong ideas he will grow up with.

That's it for now!! Take care you all! Keep warm and SMILE!!!

Pin It

JFI:Coconut, contd. : Rice Payasam and Curried Cauliflower

How can I just sit back with my Mom's contribution to JFI???!!! I wanted to get in something of my own too.. just that blogger has been giving unexpected trouble for a day or two now... has anyone else also faced this?

Anyway.... back to JFI... when I first saw the ingredient.. I thought clever choice! The second thought was... M is not going to like this ~giggle~! My husband is 'psychologically allergic' to coconut! And these recipes I had contained Coconut Milk by the tin! Well... trusting the old adage.... Ignorance is bliss... for the time being, atleast, I went ahead with making these. So here is my contribution to JFI.

RICE PAYASAM

Now, for the rice pudding, the recipe source is a bit obscure, I mean I got it from my Mom, who said she had this cutting from some Marathi news paper.. or a magazine? .. something like that she said.. "you have to try this, it is wonderful!", ok, Mother is right!"
This is a hassle free recipe and quick too if u have a can of coconut milk at hand.

What you need is :
4 tbsp Basmati Rice
2 cups Boiled milk ( I took only 1 1/2 cup milk)
1 tin Coconut milk
1 cup Jaggery
2 spoons Ghee
Almonds, Pistachios,Saffron, Cardamom powder to garnish.

Put 2 spoons of ghee in a microwave safe pot heat it for 30 seconds. Add almonds...etc. and heat it again for 1 minute. Wash rice and add 2 cups of water and cook for 5 minutes in the microwave oven(check your microwave power). When the rice is soft add coconut milk and jaggery and cook for 3 minutes. Stir well and add boiled milk and cook for 4 minutes . When it cools down add cardamom powder and serve.

CURRIED CAULIFLOWER :

The recipe source was the cook book I refered to when I made the Layered Lentil Rice
This was a simple recipe and not too spicy.. plus the cauliflower and coconut milk was adifferent combo I wanted to try!

1 tbsp. Gram Flour (besan)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. Chilli pwd ( I reduced this, but I shouldn't have [:( ] )
1 tsp. ground cumin pwd.
1 tsp. ground corriander pwd.
1 tsp. mustard pwd.
1 tsp. turmeric
Salt to taste
4 tsp. Oil
6-7 curry leaves
1 cauliflower (broken into florets)
3/4 cup coconut milk
Juice of 2 lemons


Mix the gram flour with a little water to make a paste. Add chilli, corriander, cumin, mustard, turmeric and salt. Add the remaining water and keep mixing to blend all ingredients well.
Heat oil in a frying psn, add curry leaves and cumin seeds, add spice paste and simmer for about 5 mins. . If the sauce is too thick, add a little hot water.
Add the cauliflowerand coconut milk. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and cook until cauliflower is tender but crunchy (cook longer if you wish). Add lemon juice, mix and serve hot.




The verdict: Both the dishes passed M's test ! He loved the payasam! In both the dishes coconut milk adds its flavour and the subtle taste blends well with rice as well as the cauliflower. Pin It