Sothi / Sodhi

Sodhi / sothi is a very popular dish from the region of Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. It is also pretty well known among the srilankan Tamils. It is very simple to make, extremely flavorful and goes well in idiyappam, dosa, rice, chapthai and puttu. There are many variations depending on the region and every household may have their own recipe of which vegetables to add etc. The first time I tasted Sothi was at a Srilankan Tamil friend's house in London in the late 90's. She served it with idiyappam and it was so yummy.

I found this receive from Chitra Murali's kitchen and tried it today. Here is the recipe!Fresh coconut milk would taste the better, but I did not want to do all the work and used the canned one. There is no oil used in this recipe. The list of ingredients may be long, but they are very simple,easily found in a pantry and it is one pot cooking.

Get Ready

• 1 medium potato, peeled, washed and cut into cubes
• 1 small red onion sliced
• 1 tomato chopped
• 3-4 green chili slit lengthwise ( adjust as per taste)
• Few curry leaves torn
• Lots of cilantro
•  1 can of coconut milk ( I used Arroy D brand here in the US)
• Cinnamon stick broken into 2 inch pieces x2
• 1 tsp saunf / somber  crushed with a mortar & pestle
• 1 tsp coriander powder / dhania powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1-1/2 tsp of salt as per taste
• juice from 1/4 th of lemon

Go

• In a large vessel, add the cinnamon stick, onion ,chopped potato, tomatoes, green chilli, curry leaves, cilantro.

• Add 1/4 cup of coconut milk and 1 cup of water. ( equivalent of 2nd and third milk if taken from a real coconut)
• Add the crushed saunf, coriander powder, turmeric powder.
• Keep the pan of medium flame and let the coconut milk water mixture boil till the potato is half done.
• Add salt at this point as per taste and cook till the potatoes are done.

• Now add another 1/4  to 1/2 cup of thick coconut milk, depending on what consistency you want the sothi to be.

• Let the whole mix come just to a boil.
• Turn the heat off and add the lemon juice.
• Garnish with more cilantro and serve.

Tips:

adding the saunf and cinnamon gives an amazing fragrance to this curry.

You can make this thinner with more water and drink as a soup.

Tastes best with idiyappam. I served it with puttu for dinner today.