Bhindnachya solachi kadi
Bhindnachya solachi kadi (Fresh kokum kadi):
How many of you have tasted fresh kokum? The fresh fruit of the tree which we Goans call out 'Bhindna'. The kokum petals are actually made from these bhindna. They look as below.
How many of you have eaten these fruits? Bhindna are very tasty fruit. My hubby loves to relish it raw itself. Even I used to eat them raw when I was a child and my neighbouring places had them.
Bhindna tree is mostly found in all the Goan plantations called Kulaghar. Kulaghar is a plantation containing all kinds of trees from coconuts, cashewnuts, betal nuts till spices, mango trees, which were actually the source of bread winning in the olden times of all Goans and also in some other states. Still some people owe such huge plantations and they actually work on it for their livelihood.
Among them, one of the task was to pluck the fruits of this kokum tree called bhindna and then transform them into the kokum petals or which we call sola and make it readily available for our ready use. But do anybody knows the actual steps of how they prepare them? I shall explain to you in short and show you below few steps which I did in my kitchen and transformed fresh kokums or bhindnas into sola.
A very simple procedure though but requires real effort when you do it in bulk. My in laws relatives have huge kokum tree and they give us the fresh bhindnas in lots. My mother in law always used to do the sola in big quantities when I was newly married. I never noticed so much the steps she followed but had a close glance on what she did. The other day she sent me few bhindnas and i had a big challenge to do it myself. Having some communication with her, she guided me on the steps and I made it. Since quantity was little, I had to skip one step, I shall explain you below. I have given below preparation of fresh bhindna kadi and then making its sola. Both steps are hand in hand, so read carefully. My pictures are self exanatory, so that my blog readers find my recipe easy.
So let's start.
Ingredients:
Fresh kokum fruit or bhindna-4-5
Green chillies-3-4
Asafotedia or hing- khada-2 small pieces or 1 tsp if powder.
Sugar-2-3 tsp as per taste
Salt as per taste
Coriander leaves-1 tsp( optional)
Water-2-3 cups
Method:
Wash the fresh kokum fruit - bhindna.
Cut them in between and separate the petals and pulpy seeds inside.
Put water and soak this mixture for 1-2 hrs.
Now separate reddish water and the mixture in separate containers.
Keep the petals aside.
Remove all the light pink pulp.
Carefully remove the seeds from the pulp and discard them.
Take this pulp, add little by little water and squeeze them to remove more reddish water. Add in the above reddish water.
Now add chopped green chillies, hing, coriander leaves, sugar, salt and stir well.
Check the taste and adjust your sugar level accordingly since some kokums are too sour, so you need to adjust the taste by sugar and salt.
Your bhindna kadi is ready.
You can drink it as an appetizer or have with rice. Its similar to futi kadi which we make using sola. But fresh bhindna kadi is very much tasty then dried kokum kadi.
The petals are dried up in sun properly for a week or so. If you have more quantities of fresh bhindna, then the dried kokums are again well coated with the reddish water of fresh bhindna and again dried up in sun. The drying up is done for many days till your successful in making the perfect blackish sola or kokums as you get in market.
How many of you have tasted fresh kokum? The fresh fruit of the tree which we Goans call out 'Bhindna'. The kokum petals are actually made from these bhindna. They look as below.
How many of you have eaten these fruits? Bhindna are very tasty fruit. My hubby loves to relish it raw itself. Even I used to eat them raw when I was a child and my neighbouring places had them.
Bhindna tree is mostly found in all the Goan plantations called Kulaghar. Kulaghar is a plantation containing all kinds of trees from coconuts, cashewnuts, betal nuts till spices, mango trees, which were actually the source of bread winning in the olden times of all Goans and also in some other states. Still some people owe such huge plantations and they actually work on it for their livelihood.
Among them, one of the task was to pluck the fruits of this kokum tree called bhindna and then transform them into the kokum petals or which we call sola and make it readily available for our ready use. But do anybody knows the actual steps of how they prepare them? I shall explain to you in short and show you below few steps which I did in my kitchen and transformed fresh kokums or bhindnas into sola.
A very simple procedure though but requires real effort when you do it in bulk. My in laws relatives have huge kokum tree and they give us the fresh bhindnas in lots. My mother in law always used to do the sola in big quantities when I was newly married. I never noticed so much the steps she followed but had a close glance on what she did. The other day she sent me few bhindnas and i had a big challenge to do it myself. Having some communication with her, she guided me on the steps and I made it. Since quantity was little, I had to skip one step, I shall explain you below. I have given below preparation of fresh bhindna kadi and then making its sola. Both steps are hand in hand, so read carefully. My pictures are self exanatory, so that my blog readers find my recipe easy.
So let's start.
Ingredients:
Fresh kokum fruit or bhindna-4-5
Green chillies-3-4
Asafotedia or hing- khada-2 small pieces or 1 tsp if powder.
Sugar-2-3 tsp as per taste
Salt as per taste
Coriander leaves-1 tsp( optional)
Water-2-3 cups
Method:
Wash the fresh kokum fruit - bhindna.
Cut them in between and separate the petals and pulpy seeds inside.
Put water and soak this mixture for 1-2 hrs.
Now separate reddish water and the mixture in separate containers.
Keep the petals aside.
Remove all the light pink pulp.
Carefully remove the seeds from the pulp and discard them.
Take this pulp, add little by little water and squeeze them to remove more reddish water. Add in the above reddish water.
Now add chopped green chillies, hing, coriander leaves, sugar, salt and stir well.
Check the taste and adjust your sugar level accordingly since some kokums are too sour, so you need to adjust the taste by sugar and salt.
Your bhindna kadi is ready.
You can drink it as an appetizer or have with rice. Its similar to futi kadi which we make using sola. But fresh bhindna kadi is very much tasty then dried kokum kadi.
The petals are dried up in sun properly for a week or so. If you have more quantities of fresh bhindna, then the dried kokums are again well coated with the reddish water of fresh bhindna and again dried up in sun. The drying up is done for many days till your successful in making the perfect blackish sola or kokums as you get in market.
Then store them in a container. You can use these sola for years if you make in bulk quantity. These kokums are used in culinary purpose, it gives a deep red colour and gives a peculiar flavour to different dishes in Goa like fish curries, dry fish preparations, veg dal's etc. Its also used to make Sol kadi and futi kadi whose recipes are already shared in my blog. Kokum sharbat or a sweet juice is also prepared with sufficient quantity of sugar. Even Gujarati, Maharashtra and Karnataka cuisines use kokums in some of their preparations.
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