Tirunelveli Sodhi/ Mappilai Sodhi 5/5 (1)

Should I call it Sodhi or Mappillai Sodhi? This is a native delicacy of the Tirunelveli district of Tamilnadu. Who said Tirunelveli is renowned for its Halwa only??? Another gem in its gastronomic crown is this dish, it justifies its existence fair and square. It’s also a vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free recipe.

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What is Sodhi? – It’s a creamy, smooth, subtle curry prepared with few selective veggies, solely cooked with coconut milk and moong dal. Though it sounds simple, its richness can be experienced only when you consume it. Its lusciousness is purely imparted by coconut milk.

Why is it called Mappillai Sodhi?? Mappillai in Tamil means groom, this heavenly dish is prepared post-wedding to show their pride and honor. Generally, one whole coconut’s milk will be required to serve 2 people. Naturally, it reflects their esteem depending on the number of coconuts they use for the feast, which in turn indicates the number of people they fed for the occasion. Apparently, declaring the number of coconuts used for preparing Mappillai Sodhi to their community is a sign of pride or statement. Hope you’ve derived the significance of Sodhi in Tirunelveli cuisine and for their natives.

Stating the origin of this dish, there is a belief that it came from Srilanka. People who migrated from Srilanka and settled in Tirunelveli introduced this dish to the community. To some extent, I can relate this as I found Srilankan Sodhi similar to Tirunelveli Sodhi. The only difference is the addition of moong dal. Also, they include tomatoes and Rampé (pandan leaves), and fewer vegetables. I feel that here, in Tirunelveli, due to the unavailability of rampe, they replaced it with drumsticks for its resemblance in appearance. It’s purely my observation…😄😄, not trying to mess with history…😉

Preparing coconut milk from fresh coconut is a laborious task. But it’s worth the effort. Still, if you are reluctant to take on this task, forget it, try with store-bought coconut powder which gives you instant coconut milk. This instant milk will help you to attain only 70% of the original taste and flavour. The rest of the preparation is so breezy, it can be prepared in a jiffy.

Choice of veggies can vary from potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, drumsticks even cauliflowers, or brinjal. Similarly, the addition of shallots/small onion, garlic can be kept optional.

It’s traditionally served with Ginger/inji chutney for steamed rice accompanied by potato fries. Thoothukudi region, they have this Sodhi with Masi Sambal (pounded dry tuna fish). It can also be served with Aappam, Idiyappam, idli, dosa. I also shared the recipe of ginger/inji chutney or thuvaiyal. This chutney/ thuvaiyal goes well with this Sodhi, steamed rice, idli and dosa. The underlying reason to have this ginger chutney with this Sodhi is that ginger aids digestion, as Sodhi may be too heavy to digest due to the richness of coconut milk.

Last but not the least, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my sister-in-law Prema from thoothukudi and my Abudhabi friend Aarti from Tirunelveli who gave their versions of Sodhi and helped me to understand the intricacies. I somehow managed to take the essence of it and create my own version, hope they accept and acknowledge my Sodhi…😄😄. I’ve tried my best to do justification and to retain the authenticity of the dish.

Let’s get into the recipe…😍😍

Firstly, cut the veggies of your choice, I chose potatoes, carrots, beans, and drumsticks. Cut them uniformly into inch size chunks, like matchstick cuts. Keep it aside, store only the potatoes in a bowl containing water to avoid discoloration.

Wash and soak ½ cup moong dal for 10 minutes. Add 4 times of water to dal, pressure cooks it, and give 10 whistles. Once the pressure settles down, mash it with a masher or a flat ladle to give a uniform texture to the dal. Keep it aside. Meanwhile, prepare the coconut milk by grinding the fresh coconut with cumin seeds, ginger, and green chilli along with 1 ¼ cup water (preferably warm).

And extract the milk by straining.

This yields 1 cup of thick milk which is also called first milk. Keep it aside.

Next, take the extract and grind again with 1½ cup water (preferably warm), strain it in a bowl.

Yields 2 cups of second milk also termed as thin milk.

Again finally, grind the extract with ½ cup of water (preferably warm), strain it thoroughly into the same bowl containing the second milk.

It yields 1 cup of third milk also termed as thin milk. Combine and keep this 2nd and 3rd milk (total 3 cups) together separately.

Sauté 1 tbsp ginger and green chilli in little oil.

Let it cool, and grind them into a coarse paste with little water.

Take a deep bottomed pan or kadai, heat coconut oil add garlic, shallots, sauté for a minute.

Then add the veggies one by one.

Later add the coarsely ground ginger, green chilli paste, sauté well.

Now add thin coconut milk (2nd and 3rd milk).

Close it, and cook for 10- 15 minutes or till your veggies are cooked well (check a piece of potato by pressing with your hand, it should smash easily, refer to the pic and video).

Now bring the flame to medium and add mashed moong dal.

Add salt (refer notes). Mix well.

Also add half a cup of water if it has thickened, to adjust the consistency.

Again, close and cook for another 5 minutes.

Open the lid and stir it, reduce the flame to low, now finally add the thick, first milk, stir it and let it cook for 5 minutes with the lid open.

Switch off the flame and let it cool. Then add 2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice and mix well.

In a small pan, add 2 tbsp coconut oil, then add whole red chillies and curry leaves. Add this hot tempering into the curry and close the lid to lock the aroma.

Your luscious, creamy, rich Tirunelveli Sodhi is ready to serve with piping hot steamed rice, ginger chutney, potato fries. Non-vegetarians have this Sodhi with masi sambal (pounded dry tuna fish).

Also, it can be served with Aappam, Idiyappam, idli, dosa. It’ll be a match made in heaven…😍😍

Recipe card

Preparation time: 10-12 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Cuisine: Indian, South

Category: Curries

Serves: 4

Author: Manimala

Ingredients:

For Coconut milk:

Grated coconut – 2 cups

Green chilli – 2 nos

Ginger chopped – 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds/jeera – 2 tsp

Water – 3-3 ¼ cup

For Sodhi:

Coconut oil – 2 tbsp

Shallots/small onion – ½ cup

Garlic chopped – 1 tbsp

Potatoes (1” cuts) – 1 cup

Carrots (1” cuts) – 1 cup

Beans (1” cuts) – ¾ cup

Drumsticks (1” fry cuts) – ¼ cup

Ginger – 1 tbsp

Green chilli – 3

Moong dal – ½ cup (uncooked)

Salt – to taste

Lemon juice – 2 tbsp

For tempering:

Coconut oil – 2 tbsp

Red chilli whole – 2-3

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Serving suggestions:

Ginger/Inji chutney

Steamed rice

Aappam

Idiyappam

Instructions:

1. Firstly, cut the veggies of your choice, I chose potatoes, carrots, beans, and drumsticks. Cut them uniformly into inch size chunks, like matchstick cuts. Keep it aside, store only the potatoes in a bowl containing water to avoid discoloration.
2. Wash and soak ½ cup moong dal for 10 minutes. Add 4 times of water to dal, pressure cooks it, and give 10 whistles. Once the pressure settles down, mash it with a masher or a flat ladle to give a uniform texture to the dal. Keep it aside.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the coconut milk by grinding the fresh coconut with cumin seeds, ginger, and green chilli along with 1 ¼ cup water (preferably warm) and extract the milk by straining. This yields 1 cup of thick milk which is also called first milk. Keep it aside.
4. Next, take the extract and grind again with 1½ cup water (preferably warm), strain it in a bowl. Yields 2 cups of second milk also termed as thin milk.
5. Again finally, grind the extract with ½ cup of water (preferably warm), strain it thoroughly into the same bowl containing the second milk. It yields 1 cup of third milk also termed as thin milk. Combine and keep this 2nd and 3rd milk (total 3 cups) together separately.
6. Sauté 1 tbsp ginger and green chilli in little oil, let it cool, and grind them into a coarse paste with little water.
7. Take a deep bottomed pan or kadai, heat coconut oil add garlic, shallots, sauté for a minute, then add the veggies one by one. Later add the coarsely ground ginger, green chilli paste, sauté well.
8. Now add thin coconut milk (2nd and 3rd milk), close it, and cook for 10- 15 minutes or till your veggies are cooked well (check a piece of potato by pressing with your hand, it should smash easily, refer to the pic and video).
9. Now bring the flame to medium and add mashed moong dal, salt (refer notes). Mix well. Again, close and cook for another 5 minutes. Also add half a cup of water if it has thickened, to adjust the consistency.
10. Open the lid and stir it, reduce the flame to low, now finally add the thick, first milk, stir it and let it cook for 5 minutes with the lid open.
11. Switch off the flame and let it cool. Then add 2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice and mix well.
12. In a small pan, add 2 tbsp coconut oil, then add whole red chillies and curry leaves. Add this hot tempering into the curry and close the lid to lock the aroma.
13. Your luscious, creamy, rich Tirunelveli Sodhi is ready to serve with piping hot steamed rice, ginger chutney, potato fries. Non-vegetarians have this Sodhi with masi sambal (pounded dry tuna fish).
14. Also, it can be served with Aappam, Idiyappam, idli, dosa. It’ll be a match made in heaven…😍😍

Notes:

• As I mentioned above, preparing coconut milk from scratch with fresh coconut is a laborious task. But it’s worth the effort. If you are still reluctant to take this labour, forget it, try with store-bought coconut powder which gives you instant coconut milk. Although, this instant milk will help you to attain only 70% of the original taste and flavour.
• When you prepare the second milk, feel free to add 2 cups of water together and extract 3 cups of milk together rather than splitting into 2 steps to get the second and third milk. This will save your time but make sure your jar’s capacity is large enough to hold water and coconut avoiding any splatter and thoroughly extract the milk by compressing with the back of a spoon or ladle.
• Adding ginger, green chilli, and cumin seeds to grated coconut enhances the flavour of coconut milk. It can be kept optional. If you are skipping them while grinding the coconut, then make sure to add this ginger and green chilli into the coarse paste which I prepared in step 6…👆.
• Add those cumin seeds in tempering if you are skipping them while grinding the coconut.
• Manipulate the number of green chillies and ginger according to your spice requirements.
• The rest of the preparation is so breezy; it can be prepared in a jiffy. Just need veggies and dal to be set ready.
• Choice of veggies can vary from potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, drumsticks even cauliflowers, or brinjal. Similarly, the addition of shallots/small onion, garlic can be kept optional.
• Adding salt at the last stage is essential as it’ll ruin the coconut milk. You must have noticed that initially, I didn’t add salt for veggies, only after adding the moong dal did I add the salt.
• Similarly, lemon juice should be added after cooling down the Sodhi. This is to avoid curdling the coconut milk due to the acidic nature of the lemon.
• Consistency of the Sodhi can be thick to thin according to your requirements. After adding dal, if you find your Sodhi too thick, then add half a cup of water as I did.
• When you add the first thick milk, do not let it boil, make sure your flame is completely low, and let it simmer for 5 minutes only.
• Here, I used coconut oil for my Sodhi at different stages including tempering. You can replace it with ghee or other neutral vegetable oil. But I prefer coconut oil as it adds immense flavour to Sodhi and amplifies the aroma and richness of coconut milk. If you are using another medium, make sure at least you use coconut oil in the tempering. Also, lock the aroma of tempering by immediately closing the lid after adding it to Sodhi.