The first time I heard about this recipe is from my BFF, MP. Her mom is from Tirunelveli, South of Tamilnadu which is very famous for wonderful food. Every part of our country has a food story and beautiful food, isnt it? Everytime I visit her place, I get treated to the specialties that turn out quite new to me. Her mom is an excellent cook and something as simple as plain toor dal and poondu kuzhambu tastes magical when cooked by her 🙂 During one of our conversations a couple of years back, she told me how she made Sodhi for lunch that day. Having never heard of the name before I was very intrigued and got to know not only the recipe but also why it is very popular. This dish is also called “Mapillai” (Son-in-law) Sodhi for this gets made specially every time the son-in-law visits home. Why – simply because it is considered a rich dish. I was amazed by the simplicity of it and decided to give it a try immediately. As I was super lazy those days to keep this blog updated, this recipe never found the daylight. I made it again recently and had to post it here. The recipe is very simple to make and is filled with the goodness of vegetables. Not only it is colorful, it’s quite tasty, what with the vegetables being cooked in the coconut milk. The spices used are minimum for this recipe and yet it is quite flavorful. I used homemade coconut milk where I blended grated coconut with a cup of water to get the thick coconut milk and the subsequent extraction of coconut milk turns out thin. To thicken the gravy, ½ cup of cooked moong dal is used. It tastes super good with hot rice and spicy ginger chutney by the side.
In a nonstick pan, heat oil. Add slit green chillies. Fry them for ten secs and add chopped onions. Fry until translucent.
Add chopped vegetables and fry for 2-3 mins on medium or low flame.
Add thin coconut milk to the pan and mix well. Add required salt. Let the vegetables cook in the coconut milk for 5-7 mins on low flame. Cover the pan with a lid. Add cooked moong dal to the boiled vegetables and stir well. Check for salt. Cook the Sodhi for another 2-3mins.
Now add the thick coconut milk, mix well. Let the Sodhi heat up on low flame for a min. Remove it from heat. Do not let it boil or the coconut milk curdles.
Serve hot with rice and ginger chutney on the side.
To extract the coconut milk, add 1.5 cups of chopped or grated coconut in a mixer jar, add 1.5 cups of water and blend for 1-2mins. Strain the coconut milk which would be thick. That is the first or the thick coconut milk. Repeat the process with another 2 cups of water to get the 2nd or thin coconut milk. Along with these vegetables, drumstick pieces can be added too. I cooked 2.5 tablespoon of moong dal in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles to cook the dal to a mush. Adjust the spice levels as per preference. Always cook this on low flame, do not burn the vegetables or onions – to retain the beautiful off-white color of the gravy.
