Thursday, January 22, 2009

Birinda saaru (Kokum Soup)




This is a dish that always remains close to my heart as it was our favourite back home. Now its only me who loves it the most so I rarely make it. As kids I remember we sisters used to fight for the last sip even though amma used to make it in a large pitcher. Anyways going deep into the childhood memories makes me nostalgic and a lump in a throat and tears in my eyes.. Say !! Whatever ...Childhood memories are to be cherished!!!
Coming back to this dish, it goes very well with rice and a spicy side dish or just sip on it like a drink!!! And yes it stays good for a couple of days well refrigerated. The taste enhances as time passes and reheated!!!

Ingredients:
Dry Kokum/birinda - 5 petals
green chillies - 2
grated jaggery - 1 tsp
salt to taste
ghee/oil - 1 tsp
dry red chilli - 1
garlic - 8 cloves

Method:
Crush garlic along with the skin (Do not peel).
Wash the dried kokum twice and soak in 2 cups of water for about 15 minutes. Add green chillies and salt and get the mixture to a boil. Cook till it is reduced to 1¼ cup. Now add grated jaggery and cook for a minute. Meanwhile heat a small pan (panna kayli) add ghee/oil when hot, add crushed garlic and saute till light brown now break red chillies into the pan and saute for another 5 seconds and pour the seasoning into the birinda mixture cover and get to a boil. Doing this will enable the garlic flavour infuse into the birinda mixture. Leave aside for 10 minutes. Then sip it warm (discard the kokum and chillies) or serve with plain rice and fish tawa fry or upkari. Simple yet healthy!!!! The shots might not be appealing but I bet you will like it once you taste the sweet n sour Kokum Soup.

5 comments:

Neha said...

This is something new to me,n the method too is different..
Nice blog n thanx for following me..

Unknown said...

i love the taste of kokum and hadkadi made with kokum..this one looks nice..have heard kokum is healthier when compared with tamarind..

Sunanda said...

Kokum I heard it for the first time... its taste must be very good..but cld u tell where I can get that in India ?

Poonam said...

we get this dried kokum skin in any mangalore store if u r looking for one in Bangalore. For more details on kokum here is shilpa's info on it http://www.aayisrecipes.com/2008/04/27/kokum/

Namrata Kini said...

I have lots of kokum in my pantry. Yesterday itself I made some syrup out of it. Ur saaru looks nice. Perfect for the season.