My domestic maid K gave me a bag full of these sour Kokum fruits which she got from her native. The botanical name is Garcinia indica. We usually use the dried peels of these fruits called kokum in our cooking. These fresh ones are used to make kokum sherbet (sweet juice) but I didn’t want to make it for the fact that a lot of sugar goes into making it. My mom suggested that I should dry the peels to make dried kokum but unfortunately we do not have a lot of sunlight coming into our house, so I dropped that idea. K told me about this recipe and I tried it the other day. It is much different than the usual sol kadi and it tastes amazing with plain rice or can be had after a heavy non vegetarian meal. It helps in digestion. So here is the recipe for Kokum Kadi.
Ingredients –
10 to 12 whole kokum fruit,
1/4th cup freshly grated coconut,
2 green chilies,
5 cloves of garlic,
A piece of ginger,
Handful of coriander leaves,
1/4th piece of an onion,
½ tsp jaggery,
Salt to taste,
2 tsp oil,
1 tsp mustard seeds,
1 tsp cumin seeds,
Few curry leaves,
5 cups of water,
1/4th tsp turmeric powder
Method –
Wash the kokum fruits and remove the stalk. Put the fruits in water and squeeze out the juice.
Squeeze till all the juices come out.
Strain this liquid, put salt and jaggery and keep aside.
Grind together coconut, green chilies, garlic, ginger, coriander leaves and onion with little water to a smooth paste.
Put this ground paste in the kokum water and bring to a boil.
Let it simmer for appox 5 minutes.
In a small pan, heat oil and crackle mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Add turmeric powder, fry for a while and put this in the cooked kadi. Cover the vessel so that the aroma does not escape.
Serve with rice or drink it up after a heavy meal.
Cooking With My Spouse 