Solkadhi Recipe | Solkadi (Kokum Curry)
Solkadhi recipe (also known as solkadi, sol kadhi, kokum kadhi or kokum curry) is an essential drink for cooling the body during blistering Goan summers. This mauve-hued, tart digestive beverage is easy to make, and takes just 10 minutes of active time to prepare.
About Solkadhi
Next time you are in Goa, go to any proper, local indigenous restaurants that serve Goan food. Have any thali there – veg, fish or non-veg thali – and on the plate you will see a dark pink colored drink in a small glass or a small bowl (vati). That, my friends, is the kokum curry.
Also known as solkadi, this beverage is an important part of Goan, Konkan and Malvani cuisine. It has both cooling and digestive properties, making it a perfect counter to the heavily spiced dishes of the Western Coastal Indian cuisines. Kokum curry has a sour taste similar to buttermilk or a Chaas, but with more savory undertones.
As with most Indian recipes, there are almost as many ways to make solkadi. It can be made with or without coconut milk, but today I am posting my mom’s recipe of kokum kadhi made with coconut milk.
My mom’s recipe is a unique one and is much loved in my family and I couldn’t resist sharing it with you. Coconut milk does reduce some of the tart flavor of kokum, but not too much.
My Mom’s solkadhi recipe is a nice blend of mildly sweet coconut milk, sour kokum and tempered Indian spices. I should note that we always temper the curry with a few spices and herbs, but this step can be skipped and is not essential.
At home I serve solkadi with rice and a curried bean dish like Usal, or a vegetable curry like the Goan Curry. I simply love it this way! You can also drink it after your lunch meal if you prefer, as it aids in the digestion of food and keeps your body cool.
What is Kokum
For all those who have never had kokum in their lives, please try this marvelous Indian fruit; it is amazing!
Kokum – also known as Garcinia indica – is a fruit bearing plant from the mangosteen family. The plant yields dark red colored fruit that are both sweet and sour. As kids, we would have the kokum fruits (photo below) with salt as a midday snack.
To get the ingredient we know as kokum or aamsol, the outer flesh of the fruit is dried in the sun. After drying, they turn blackish purple in color. These dried fruits are sour to taste and have a sweetish aroma.
The anthocyanins in the fruit add a dark purple hue to any dish that you add it to, including the purple-pink hue of this kokum curry.
Kokum is used in Goan and Malvan fish or prawn curries as a souring agent. It is also used in the Maharashtrian, Gujarati and Kerala cuisine. One of my favorite recipes using this Indian fruit is known as Kokum Juice.
This amazing fruit is used to rid the body of heat, and also serves to reduce the pitta dosha as per Ayurdeda. Kokum is also good for digestion, as well as helps in reducing itchiness from heat rash.
Actually it is very easy to get kokum if you stay in the southern parts and western coast of India. But if you stay in the north, then you can buy them online.
When living in Delhi, I had a tough time finding kokum anywhere (in the days when online stores and buying was not even heard of), especially when the Delhi heat used to be at its peak.
It really surprises me why they are not sold in the northern and central regions of India where the heat is such a killer. The kokum fruit is so good as a summer cooler. May be its got to do with the taste habits of people. There are many things from the North of India that I don’t get to buy in Goa and vice versa.
How to make Solkadhi
Making solkadhi recipe at home is really quite simple. Aside from the requisite soaking time, the whole recipe takes just 10 minutes to assemble when using canned or packaged coconut milk.
If you plan to make homemade coconut milk, then add in some more 10 to 15 minutes to your prep time.
Soak and Crush Kokum
1. Rinse 12 kokums under cool water. Place them in a bowl and add 1 cup water.
2. Soak the kokums in the water for 30 minutes.
3. After 30 minutes, completely crush and squeeze kokum in the water by using your fingers.
4. Pour the kokum extract in a strainer placed atop a bowl.
5. The kokum shreds will collect in the strainer.
6. Press the kokum shreds with a spoon to extract as much flavor as possible.
Make Solkadhi
7. Then add 2 cups water to the kokum extract.
8. Next add 1 to 1.5 cups thick coconut milk. You can either make the coconut milk or use canned coconut milk.
NOTE: Always use thick coconut milk and not lite or thin coconut milk when making sol kadi. The lite coconut milk can curdle and separate after mixing with the kokum extract.
If you plan to make your own homemade coconut milk, then use the first extract only. Do not use coconut milk made from coconut powder as this can also curdle it as soon as you add it to the kokum extract.
9. Mix very well.
10. Add salt to taste and mix again. Keep the kokum kadhi aside so that we prepare the tempering.
Make Tempering
11. Heat 1.5 tablespoons oil in a tadka pan or a small frying pan. Keep the heat to a low. Use any neutral tasting oil.
12. Add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds.
13. Let them crackle.
14. Then add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and let them crackle too.
15. Lastly add the below listed spices and herbs:
- 1 sprig curry leaves or 9 to 10 curry leaves
- 1 to 2 dry red chilies (broken and seeds removed)
- 2 to 3 lightly crushed small to medium-sized crushed garlic cloves (with or without peels) – You can crush the garlic cloves in a mortar-pestle.
- 1 generous pinch of asafoetida powder (hing)
Stirring gently and often, fry for 30 seconds or so, till the garlic turns light golden.
Assemble Solkadi
16. Quickly pour the tempering on the kokum and coconut milk mixture.
17. Mix well.
18. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of finely chopped coriander leaves to the solkadi and mix again.
19. Serve solkadhi straight away, or refrigerate and then serve cold. You can garnish solkadi with coriander leaves before serving.
Tips & Tricks
This solkadhi recipe is very easy, and should only take about 10 minutes of active time. That said, I’ve learned some important lessons along the way:
- To make kokum kadhi more quickly, use ready-made canned coconut milk. If you make your own coconut milk, add an extra 10 to 15 minutes to the recipe time.
- Get all the flavor out! Straining and squeezing the kokum completely should not be rushed. Be sure to press on the soaked kokum shreds in the strainer to get all the beautifully sour pinkish red colored kokum extract out of the fruit.
- You can serve sol kadhi immediately after tempering, or else can be refrigerated first. The coconut milk get spoiled in the hot weather, so please be sure to refrigerate the kokum curry for a couple of hours. Try to consume the curry the same day and do not keep any leftovers in the fridge for the next day.
- Plan ahead! You can make the kokum extract with water and refrigerate it for a few hours or a day before you add the coconut milk and the tempered spices and herbs.
FAQs
How can I make my sol kadhi less sour?
Simply add more coconut milk to taste! The naturally sweet, creamy flavor of the coconut helps to balance out the tart flavor of the kokum.
Where can I buy kokum?
Depending on where you live, this fruit may be a bit difficult to procure. I suggest that if you can’t find it in stores near you, you try looking online.
Can I make solkadhi recipe ahead of time?
No! This kokum curry recipe is best enjoyed as soon as it is made or on the same day. Refrigerate it for a few hours after you make it. But do not keep any leftovers for the next day in the fridge.
Step by Step Photo Guide Above
Ingredients
For the solkadi
- 12 kokums – dried
- 1 cup water – for soaking
- 2 cups water – to be added later
- 1 to 1.5 cups Coconut Milk (Thick) or half-half of thick coconut milk and thin coconut milk
- 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves – for garnish
- salt as required
For tempering
- 1 to 1.5 tablespoons oil – any neutral oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 sprig curry leaves or 9 to 10 curry leaves
- 1 generous pinch asafoetida
- 2 to 3 small to medium garlic cloves – slightly crushed
- 1 to 2 dry kashmiri red chilies – halved and seeds removed
Instructions
Soaking kokum
- Rinse kokums lightly in water. Place them in a bowl and add 1 cup water.
- Soak the kokums in the water for 30 minutes.
Crushing kokum
- After 30 minutes, crush and squeeze kokum completely with your fingers in the water itself.
- Pour the kokum extract in a strainer. Keep a bowl beneath the strainer.
- The kokum shreds will collect in the strainer.
- Press the kokum shreds with a spoon so that the kokum flavors are extracted well.
Making sol kadhi
- Then add 2 cups water to the kokum extract.
- Next add 1 cup thick coconut milk – either make homemade coconut milk or use the canned or packaged one. You can also add 1.5 cups of coconut milk. Mix very well.
- Add salt as per taste. Mix again well. Keep aside so that we prepare the tempering.
Making tempering
- Heat oil in a tadka pan or a small frying pan. Keep heat to a low.
- Add mustard seeds. Let them crackle.
- Then add cumin seeds and let them crackle too.
- Lastly add the curry leaves, dry red chilies (broken and seeds removed), lightly crushed garlic cloves (with or without peels) and a generous pinch of asafoetida powder. You can crush the garlic cloves in a mortar-pestle and set them aside before you prepare the tempering
- Fry for some seconds stirring often till the garlic turns light golden. Quickly pour this tempering on the kokum and coconut milk mixture. Mix well.
- Then add the finely chopped coriander leaves to sol kadi and mix again.
- Serve sol kadhi straight way or refrigerate for a few hours and then serve cold. You can garnish solkadhi with coriander leaves before serving. Do not keep at room temperature as the coconut milk can turn rancid.Do not keep any leftovers in the fridge for the next day and try to consume the beverage on the same day. Coconut milk get rancid easily even after refrigeration for a day, so try to finish the drink the same day.
Notes
- 1 cup grated coconut and ½ to ¾ cup water.
- Grind the grated coconut with water and squeeze out the thick milk with a strainer.
- Add the extracted coconut again back to the grinder. Add some water and then make the thin milk. Strain again and squeeze the coconut completely.
- You can add both the thick and thin milk to the kokum extract.
- Make the solkadhi less sour: Simply add some more coconut milk to balance the sour taste of kokum.
- Coconut Milk: Remember to use thick coconut milk and not lite or thin coconut milk. For homemade coconut milk, use the first extract or the first blend. Do not use coconut milk made from coconut powder as this will curdle the coconut milk.
- Spice Variations: Instead of dry red chillies, you can add 1 green chilli, chopped or slit. Skip out the asafoetida for a gluten-free drink.
- Scaling: The recipe is easily scalable. Make half portion or double the recipe as needed.
Nutrition
This solkadhi recipe from the blog archives first published in March 2012 has been republished and updated on 15 January 2022.
One of the best solkadhi recipes that I’ve come across.
Thank you so much. Glad to know you liked the recipe.
Love all your recipes.
This drink is amazing.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I’m really glad you enjoyed the solkadhi. It’s such a refreshing and soothing drink.
Hi, nice recipe, can we use silk coconut milk. Thanks.
Yes, but use unsweetened coconut milk.
Can this be consumed as gravy with cooked rice?
Yes, it can be and tastes delicious.
Great job! The recipe looks amazing, and the presentation is top-notch.
Thank you.
How can i preserve solkadhi for 7 days? Which preservative can be added to it?
I don’t think you can preserve it for 7 days. The coconut milk in it will get rancid in a few days even when refrigerated.
Thanks, Dasna,
I love solkadhi so much , but was not sure about ingredients, since long I was trying but it was not giving that taste, which I longed for, My family is in Toronto , Canada and do travel lot , some times I get tiered of hotel food and try my hand
at gastove, thanks again.
Dr Anil Datey.
thank you Dr Anil. i hope you like the solkadhi recipe when you make it. welcome.
Making it today..! is it possible to get nutrition info ?
Hi! After reading the recipe i bought kokum but did not realise it was a wet kokum. Can i still use it?
of course you can. but just make sure its not sweet.
Hi can I use the maggi coconut milk powder???
maggi coconut milk powder won’t give you a good taste and flavor. i have used coconut milk powder before and it does not even come close to the real taste of kokum curry.
As a shishya, I bow before the guru and touch your feet metaphorically (even though I’m sure you’re probably much younger than me!) for all I have learnt from you and your vegrecipesofindia site I always find what I’m seeking here and this sol kadhi recipe is no exception. I had this at a Mangalorean restaurant and been yearning to try it. A friend kindly brought me a packet of kokum from Goa and now I am set to try it with the help I got on this page. Thanks again for your wide and varied, meticulously written and photographed recipes. Hug !
i am humbled by your comment sonia 🙂 speechless now. hugs 🙂
just a note on the kokum curry – if you want you can add more coconut milk if the sour taste is too much for you.
Here,instead of kokum we use kokum aagal (readymade extract)for solkadhi,sharvari,saar etc..this is the nice receipe.
This recepies is very very yummie.. In fact all the recepies you guys put up are yummie… I cook most of my food looking at this site.. You guys are awesome.
thanks a lot urvi.
Hello amit what a nice blog that gives nice information about how to make kokum curry recipe. really very nice feeling while cooking food to the family. thanks keep it up.
welcome neha. thanks for your positive feedback.
request you to send daily receipe on my email id
sarita, we don’t have newsletter service. you can follow us on facebook, twitter or google plus to get updates about new recipes posted.
I was really happy to see the way you presented the culture of our goan curry . But to add we goan dont give tadka to kokam curry . Its the south indian who give tadka to all the type of their curry .
thanks. i know. in fact the goan kokum curry does not even use coconut milk. this version is how we make at home. we add the tempering as it gives a nice flavor and taste.
Hi, I am unfamiliar with this kind of cooking mostly. I love Indian food when I encounter it. I cook almost all of my family’s food from scratch. I bought lots of spices for curries at a local Indian spice store. I really love them. I googled kokum because I didn’t know what to do with it. I am very excited to try this recipe soon! Could you give me the name of the black eyed pea dish so I can find a recipe? I would love to make that as well. Thank you, it is so nice that you posted this.
thanks glory. kokum is very good for the body. it can be used to sour dals, curries and even pickles. the black eyed pea dish is here – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/lobia-recipe-punjabi-lobia/
I was very happy to find and read your article. I am a Goan originally, currently living in far-off city of Jamshedpur Jharkhand state.Can you please help me to buy kokum for home consumption so that I can enjoy this curry at home here in Jamshedpur? I need to know if anyone can send me Kokum if I buy online or otherwise as needed.
Awaiting your response
Regards
J Y Desai
9431383820(M)
desai ji, i just checked online and there are some online sites where you can buy kokum. you can just check if they deliver to your city.
http://www.naturesbasket.co.in/Products/Home-Indian-Grocery-Cooking-Spices–Powders/CF/cf-gracinia-cambogia-kokum-organic/pid-2823581.aspx
http://www.21food.com/products/kokum-fruits-464338.html
Hi Dassana,
I am a big fan of your space. Your posts and pictures are great and I have tried some of them with good results.
I wanted to let you know that I saw the picture of this kokum kadi in Jain Rasoi. All their pictures are taken without permission. You might want to check their site to see whether they have taken any other pictures as well.
thanks rajani. in fact i came to know on the same day about the kokum curry pics the day you commented. a coincidence. i checked some posts but could not find more pics of mine. they have camouflaged the pic so well. i will report to google on this post.
I LOVE SOLKADHI . I AM MALVANI.
Hello,
Really nice to read article on Sol Kadhi … I am staying in Noida and I am also finding it very difficult to get kokum here as no one knows …. I am maharashtrian and life without kokum is no life ….
please suggest if you know any place in delhi noida where i can buy kokum….
best regards,
Bhaskar
thanks
hi bhaskar. i have lived in delhi before and i could not find kokum anywhere in delhi or gurgaon. i did try many stores and shops. may be you can order online and get them. you can search on google if there is any one who is selling kokum. i think it would be difficult though. i do buy a lot of stuff online, but not yet seen anyone selling kokum. but you can try searching.
I brought back some kokum juice as well. Loved Sol kadi there, so much so that I never could click a picture 🙂
I’ve just returned home from a visit to Goa, with a big bag of kokum. I didn’t have a clue about it, so I’m glad I found your recipe. I did taste the simple kokum juice in a thali in a real Goan restaurant, but wasn’t sure how to make it myself. Although I’m from Canada, something about it tasted very familiar, but I can’t imagine why. Kokum is not commonly used here. Thanks for posting about this.
thanks mary. i hope your goa trip was good. there are many recipe with kokum. if you search online, you will find many of them. kokum sherbet and kokum curry are often made and served in goa. you can also add them to the indian dals or veggie dishes as a souring agent. if you have fish and do like the goan fish or prawn curry, then you can add kokum to them too. in fact even in kerala, the kokum is added to some fish based dry curries. do explore on the web and you will get many ideas.
Hi Dassana,
Was just going through your Konkan recipes and came across this fab kokum kadhi.
Thanks for the superb recipe, I too would like to share the sol kadhi recipe which is made in Malvan by Malvanis.
This is slightly differnt in taste and method.
Sol Kadhi
Ingredients
14-15 kokums kept overnite in water
2 cups grated coconut
2 green chillies
2-3 flakes garlic
a little jeera seeds(optional)
salt to taste
2 cups water
Finely chopped coriander leaves for garnishing.
Method
Grind the coconut, chillies, jeera garlic together, take out the thick milk by straining the mix in a pan. Grind the extracted coconut mix again for some more milk and add it to the thick milk.
Crush the kokums with your hand and extract the juice from it, strain it and add it to the coconut milk mixture. Mix everything properly and add salt to taste, refrigerate it for some time before serving it. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves which have been finely chopped.
Please try this recipe and give me your feedback.
Regards
Lajwanti Shetty
thanks lajwanti for taking the time to write the whole recipe in detail. it will help the readers who are looking for kokum curry and they can try this one too.
i will try this malvani sol kadhi. in fact there is one more type of sol kadhi that is made in goa, but without coconut milk. i plan to share this one too.
This looks so refreshing. I have never tasted Kokum before although I have heard about it so much.
then you should try kokum if you can get your hands on it. trust me it is really good.
I have never used Kokums before.. i love that pink! so pretty! and its a coconut milk kadhi! perfect!
yes richa, this is a perfect vegan curry 🙂
I have never heard of Kokum before, but will now hunt for it here and try it out for sure. Looks really refreshing for summers….
do try the kokum curry or else add to dal or any veggie dish. and do let me know about the outcomes.
really it is very tasty.
I use kokum often. I make a ‘saaru’ out of it which is more like a rasam. I have had sol kadhi several times but never made it at home. No better time than summer to try this recipe!
great taste.didnt know that it will make so easily.