Skip to main content

Tirunelveli Sodhi - Sodhi Kuzhambu

Sodhi is one of Tirunelveli's traditional and popular kuzhambu.This kuzhambu is a special menu on the next day of marriage. A Tirunelveli wedding meal would not be complete without this Sodhi, potato poriyal and ginger chutney.  It is prepared with coconut milk, moong dal, drumsticks, carrots, potatoes and plenty of aromatics like ginger, garlic, green chillies, small onions and lemon juice. The freshly extracted coconut milk gives you the perfect taste for this kuzhambu. We prepare this kuzhambu often during weekends, family get togethers and special occasions. My Mom, Grandma and Athai are experts in preparing this Sodhi.

Sodhi is one of Tirunelveli's traditional and popular kuzhambu.This kuzhambu is a special menu on the next day of marriage. A Tirunelveli wedding meal would not be complete without this Sodhi, potato poriyal and ginger chutney.  It is prepared with coconut milk, moong dal, drumsticks, carrots, potatoes and plenty of aromatics like ginger, garlic, green chillies, small onions and lemon juice. The freshly extracted coconut milk gives you the perfect taste for this kuzhambu. We prepare this kuzhambu often during weekends, family get togethers and special occasions. My Mom, Grandma and Athai are experts in preparing this Sodhi.


Let us see the important tips to follow before preparing this kuzhambu.

1. Main Ingredients

The main ingredients for this kuzhambu are good quality coconuts, drumsticks, lemon juice, ginger and garlic. For this kuzhambu always use fresh coconuts. When you choose the coconuts, shake it and if you  hear lots of water sound then the coconut is fresher. And also choose the coconuts which are heavier in size.

2. Coconut milk preparation

Grate the coconuts finely without any brown parts. Grind the coconuts by adding water little by little and extract the milk. We have to extract 3 times for this kuzhambu. The first coconut milk, the thickest part of the milk is added in the final stage. The second coconut milk is added when the vegetables are done. The remaining coconut is strained well to take the thin coconut milk. The vegetables, onions, chillies, ginger and garlic are cooked well in the third (thin) coconut milk. For coconut milk extraction, we usually use a cotton white cloth. You can also use a strainer with fine holes.

3. Cooking

Once the vegetables are done, reduce heat from medium to low. When cooking, the correct heat setting helps them not to curdle. Please remember that, particularly on electric stoves it will get burned in the bottom after adding the dals and the coconut milk. So be careful to maintain the low heat after adding the thick coconut milk. Do not close it with the lid after finishing the dish. Allow them to cool for a while and then close it with the lid.

4. Serving Suggestions

Serve this Sodhi  with warm rice, potato fry, ginger chutney and potato or plantain chips. Pour this kuzhambu generously over the rice and enjoy your lunch with this tasty Sodhi. You can also serve this for idiyappam. 


Here is a short video for Tirunelveli Sodhi


Here is the link for my Tirunelveli Sodhi live show in Amul TN Facebook page

Tirunelveli Sodi recipe



Print Friendly and PDF


Sodhi - Sodhi is one of Tirunelveli's traditional and popular kuzhambu. It is prepared with coconut milk, moong dal, drumsticks, carrots, potatoes and plenty of aromatics like ginger, garlic, green chillies, small onions and lemon juice.

Prep  time : 45 minutes
Cook time : 40 minutes
Serves : 4
Category : kuzhambu/lunch
Author : Muthulakshmi Madhavakrishnan

Ingredients
  • 2 coconuts
  • 1/2 cup moong dal
  • 2 drumsticks
  • 1 carrot
  • 5 beans
  • 1 potato
  • 15 to 20 small onions
  • 15 garlic cloves
  • small piece ginger or 2 tbsp chopped ginger
  • 9 green chillies
  • 2 medium lemon
  • salt as required
 For tempering
  • 1/2 tsp mustard
  • 1/2 tsp urid dal
  • 2 dried red chilly
  • few curry leaves
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
Cooking Directions
  1.  Heat a pan and roast the moong dal. Roast them until it becomes aromatic. Then transfer them to the pressure cooker. Wash the potato and place it in the cooker. Add 1 cup water and pressure cook for 4 whistles.
  2. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan and add the garlic cloves and ginger. Saute them for a few minutes. Next, add the onions, green chillies, carrots and beans. Saute them for a few minutes and add it to thin coconut milk.
  3. Add the drumsticks to the thin coconut milk. Now keep on medium heat and cook them well.
  4. In the meantime, open the cooker and check the dals are cooked well. Take the potatoes and remove the skin. Cut them and add it to the dal. Keep it ready to add to the kuzhambu.
  5. When the vegetables are cooked well add the cooked dal along with the potato. Mix them well.
  6. Now add the second coconut milk. Add the required salt. Do not increase the heat. Allow them to boil for a few minutes.
  7. When the dals and vegetables are incorporated well with the second coconut milk reduce the heat to very low. Now carefully add the thick coconut milk.
  8. Allow them to boil for 2 minutes. Then switch off the stove.
  9. Now add the lemon juice over the kuzhambu.
  10. Heat the coconut oil in a pan and add the mustard, urid dal and broken red chillies. Allow them to crackle and add the curry leaves. Then pour it into the kuzhambu. Mix them well. Do not close it with the lid. 

Tirunelveli Sodi with step by step photos


1. Preparing the coconut milk

Grate the coconuts finely. Take a big jar and add the grated coconuts. Add 1/2 cup of water and grind it. Take a vessel and strain the thick coconut milk using a stainer or white cloth. (Squeeze the ground coconuts with your palms to extract the milk). This is the first coconut milk.





Now again add the coconuts to the jar. Add some water and grind it. Strain the milk. Take another vessel and strain the milk. This is the second coconut milk.




Again add these coconuts in the jar. Add water and grind it. Now take the kuzhambu vessel and strain the milk. This is the third coconut milk used for cooking the vegetables. The third coconut milk should be very thin. 

Take all the three milks in a separate vessels. 


2. Preparing the vegetables

Peel the onions and garlic cloves. Peel the ginger and chop them finely. Slit the green chillies. Peel the carrots and cut them into small circles. Cut the drumsticks and beans.



3. How to make Sodhi

Heat a pan and roast the moong dal. Roast them until it becomes aromatic. Switch off the flame.

Then transfer them to the pressure cooker. Wash the potato and place it in the cooker. Add 1 cup water and pressure cook for 4 whistles. 


Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan and add the garlic cloves and ginger. Saute them for a few seconds. Do not brown them.


Add the small onions, green chillies, carrots and beans. 



Saute them well on low medium heat and transfer them to the thin coconut milk. Add the drumsticks to this thin coconut milk. Now keep on medium heat and cook them well.


In the meantime, open the cooker and check the dals are cooked well. Take the potatoes and remove the skin. Cut them and add it to the dal. Keep it ready to add to the kuzhambu. When the vegetables are cooked well add the cooked dal along with the potato. Mix them well.




Add the required salt. 



Now add the second coconut milk. Do not increase the heat. Allow them to boil for a few minutes.

When the dals and vegetables are incorporated well with the second coconut milk reduce the heat to very low. Now carefully add the thick coconut milk.


Stir the kuzhambu gently.



When it gently boils, turn off the heat. 


Now add the lemon juice over the sodhi. 


Heat the coconut oil in a pan and add the mustard, urid dal and broken red chillies. Allow them to crackle and add the curry leaves. Then pour it into the sodhi. Mix them well. Do not close it with the lid for 10 to 15 minutes.



Serve this Sodhi with warm rice, potato fry, ginger chutney and potato or plantain chips. 


How to prepare Ginger thuvaiyal (chutney)

Ingredients
  • small piece ginger or 1 tbsp chopped ginger
  • 3 dried red chillies
  • 1/4 cup coconut
  • small piece tamarind
  • 1/4 tsp mustard
  • 1/2 tsp urid dal
  • 1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
  • few curry leaves
  • 2 tbsp oil
Cooking Directions

Wash the ginger without any mud and remove the skin with a knife. Chop the gingers finely. Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and add the dried red chillies. Fry them for a second and add the chopped ginger. Saute them for a few minutes and turn off the heat.Take a small chutney jar and add the tamarind, coconut, salt and the fried red chillies and ginger. Grind it smoothly. 


Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard and urid dal. When it starts to splutter add the curry leaves, asafoetida powder and the ground paste. Stir and saute them well and transfer it to the bowl. Serve this chutney for Sodhi. 


If you try this recipe for Tirunelveli Sodhi send us your comments below and share the recipe for your friends and family. 

Comments

  1. Hi you have really done good job. keep sharing more yummy recipes. I subscribed your blog. indiatourfood.com

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Easy Paneer Gravy - Paneer Masala within 20 minutes - Paneer Recipes

This easy paneer gravy is a mouthwatering side dish made with paneer cooked in a rich gravy prepared with  onions, tomatoes and other spices. It's mild and not very spicy, which tastes so good with chapathi, nann, roti and pulao.  Paneer gravies can be made in a variety of ways. This recipe is the easy version of paneer butter masala. Most of the time we prepare paneer gravy with fresh cream, butter and cashew nuts. To make a tasty paneer masala, you do not need fresh cream. You can easily make restaurant style paneer gravy with easily available ingredients in your kitchen. I always like to add a few cashew nuts while making gravies, which gives a creamy consistency. The addition of dried kasuri methi leaves gives a unique flavour for paneer based gravies. I used homemade garamasala powder for gravies which does not include red chillies or pepper in it. Add garamasala powder to your personal taste preferences.Now let's see how to prepare this easy paneer gravy with step by step

Mushroom Gravy With Curd - Mushroom Curd Masala

Mushroom Gravy with Curd recipe with full video and step by step pictures. This mushroom gravy preparation is little different from other gravies. As the name suggests this gravy is prepared using thick curd and the ground masala paste is made with onions, green chillies, garlic, ginger, poppy seeds, pepper and whole garam masala. The addition of whole garam masala cinnamon, cloves, fennel and cardamom makes the gravy aromatic. This gravy is a good variation from our usual kurma and masala. For this gravy there is no need for tomatoes, cashew nuts and red chilly powder.  This is a quick and easy gravy recipe with a few ingredients.  Spices - you will need bay leaf, cumin, kasuri methi leaves and coriander leaves. For the masala paste onions, ginger, garlic, green chilly, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, fennel, cardamom and poppy seeds. Poppy seeds are added to give thickness for the gravy.  In the final stage, half teaspoon garam masala powder is sprinkled for flavour but you omit it. 

Roadside Mochai Masala - Tirunelveli Style Mochai Recipe

This is the popular street food recipe from Tirunelveli called mochai. A healthy semi dry gravy with mochai prepared in streetside pushcarts across many places in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin.  Until recently I never had a chance to taste this mochai but my husband tasted it many times during their school days. During last month's trip to Tirunelveli, we tasted this mochai masala near Murappanaadu river. It was delicious and my son asked me to prepare this mochai for his snack box. This roadside mochai masala is made with boiled mochai beans (Lima beans), lots of onions, ginger and  green chillies. As mochai beans have a slightly bitter taste, hence you have to use plenty of onions for this masala . You have to use dried mochai for this masala.  To spice up this masala you have to add a good amount of green chillies and ginger which gives a nice flavour and tastes yummy. This mochai masala makes a filling and comforting dish for breakfast or evening snack. I prepared this mochai in a

Keerai Chaaru - Arai Keerai Kuzhambu - Arai Keerai in Tamarind Gravy

Keerai Chaaru is a quick and simple kuzhambu with arai keerai and tamarind as the main ingredient. If you are looking out for a kuzhambu recipe without any coconut or dal with simple cooking, then this keerai chaaru is the perfect recipe.  When you have a huge bundle of arai keerai, you can split them for 3 varieties. Because sometimes, it is very difficult to finish a big bowl of keerai poriyal or kootu. Last week my husband bought a big  arai keerai bundle  and I made poriyal, keerai masiyal and keerai chaaru too. My mom frequently, prepare this kuzhambu along with vazhaikkai poriyal, pottukadalai thuvaiyal and sutta appalam. I was planning to post this recipe for a long time but delayed to publish it without recipe video. Finally last week when I decided to make keerai chaaru, I took the video. A few months ago, one of my followers asked me to post this recipe and decided to post the recipe along with the video. This keerai chaaru tastes good with arai keerai. The aroma of the kuzha

Chana Masala - Homestyle Chana Masala - Chana Masala for poori, chapathi and nann

Today we are going to see our all time favourite Chana Masala. It's a simple yet complete food that's easy to make within 30 minutes. I got this recipe from our friend's mom who is from Bodi. The flavours are just delicious. She gave me one kg of her homemade garamasala powder and it is one of our new favourites! The garamasala powder is free from the addition of preservatives, artificial colours and mono sodium glutamate. Any masalas or kurmas made with a unique blend of spices, tastes good. I have been trying to make my own garamasala powder but just keep putting it off. Now I am confident to prepare homemade garamasala powder as she clearly explained the recipe with exact ingredients and measurements. I will try posting the homemade garamasala recipe in virundhombal soon. During our visit to their house, she prepared so many dishes and all of them were lip smacking and the masalas were perfectly balanced, not overpowering the other.  This Chana masala is not the authenti

Mixed Vegetable Rice with Dal - One Pot Protein Rich Rice Recipe - Modern Kootanchoru

Mixed vegetable rice with step by step photos and video. Quick one pot rice within 30 minutes. Apart from kootanchoru and thuvaram paruppu sadham we make this mixed vegetable rice for weekend lunch and family get togethers.  During our childhood days, my Karthi mama makes this rice for dinner and always one of our favourite rice dishes for our whole family. During his bachelor days in Delhi, they prepared this rice frequently with whatever vegetables available in their kitchen. Making of this vegetable  rice doesn't involve any grinding or soaking and bachelor's can easily cook this rice. When it comes to any rice with dals, it must be slightly mushy with soft texture. But I do not like mushy rice, so I have reduced the amount of water. You can change it according to your preference. Allow the rice to cook on medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes or pressure cook for 2 whistles. Cooking time may vary depending on the quality of the rice and the pressure cooker.  To make this healthy

Onion Tomato Chutney - Chettinad Onion Tomato Chutney for Idli, Dosa and Paniyaram

Onion tomato chutney recipe with full video and step by step pictures. In 2005 when we were in California I have seen this Chettinad style onion tomato chutney recipe in the Aval vikatan magazine and made it immediately for dinner. I have been thinking to post this chutney in my blog for a long time. Finally, after 16 years, today I made this onion tomato chutney for paniyaram. Normally for tomato chutney or onion chutney we saute the red chillies in oil and then we grind it along with the onions and tomatoes. But for this chutney, the red chillies are dry roasted well and then powdered separately. This red chilly flakes are further sauted with onions and tomato puree. I have tried  many chutneys onion tomato combinations, but this chutney is a unique dish. We are adding the chopped small onions in this chutney without grinding it and that makes it more flavourful with a mild chunky texture. This chutney has very few ingredients, so make sure they are good and fresh. Chop fresh onions,

White Pumpkin (Ash gourd) Dosa - Vellai Poosanikai Dosa

White Pumpkin(Ash gourd) Dosa is an easy tiffin for your breakfast or dinner. Another healthy recipe from my Grandmother. It is one of our family favourite dinner dishes. These white pumpkin dosas are delicious and a great way to use the white pumpkins. My husband likes white pumpkins very much and always get a whole white pumpkin from the market. It will be good up to a month before cutting and you have to finish it within a day after cutting them. So whenever he bought this vegetable, definitely this dosa will be in our menu. We always prepare kootu, sambar and thayir pachadi with this white pumpkin, but I wanted to try something different with this vegetable. As usual, I asked my grandmother to tell me ideas to prepare healthier dishes with this white pumpkin. My grandmother told me they prepare this dosas frequently with this white pumpkins during their olden days with their garden fresh pumpkins. Now these dosas are unbelievably easy to prepare. Start by soaking the rice an

Collection of Kuzhambu varieties for lunch

KUZHAMBU RECIPES, 20 KUZHAMBU RECIPES FOR LUNCH Kuzhambus are the foundation for a good lunch in South Indian cuisine. Although there are many rice varieties in South Indian cuisine, a bowl of rice and kuzhambu with any vegetable side dish makes our tummy happy. In this collection, I have shared many traditional Tirunelveli kuzhambu recipes. I have suggested authentic ingredients and spices in my kuzhambu recipes. If you find any spices are inconvenient, you may change according to your taste. Now let's see the collection of kuzhambu recipes here. Click on the pictures or the recipe here to view the recipe details with step by step instructions.   Collection of Kuzhambu varieties for lunch 1. Sodhi - Sodhi is one of Tirunelveli's traditional and popular kuzhambu.This kuzhambu is a special menu on the next day of marriage. A Tirunelveli wedding meal would not be complete without this Sodhi, potato poriyal and ginger chutney.  RECIPE HERE. 2. Pulikuzh

Amla (Gooseberry) Rice | Nellikai Sadham - Easy & Healthy lunch box recipe

Nellikai Sadham - a healthy rice for your lunch box with simple cooking methods. Once again thanks to my Karthi Uncle who taught me the Aloo Gobi recipe prepared this healthy rice. The way we prepare for lemon rice and mango rice applies to this Amla(Nellikai) rice also. In addition, we want to grind the amlas in a mixer jar without any water and then we have to saute it with our classic tempering ingredients. Ponni raw rice is much preferred when preparing these type of rice varieties, but if you are looking for a healthier choice you may replace it with cooked millets.