Monday, November 16, 2009

Mochai payaru curry

Every simple dish in the Indian houses would have a story behind it, just like the dad bringing pakoda for rasam rice on a rainy night or brother's surprise parotta or loving aunt's instant vadai for curd rice etc.

I have seen this delicious mochai payaru curry in the households of Kovilpatti , Sivakasi (small towns of TamilNadu, India) etc, where each and every member of family would be employed in a cottage Industry. In that area, we can see small food stalls selling this curry wrapped in banana leaf in the late evening, which can reduce a bit of the females' burden after a long day. May be they can make a quick meal with some rice and rasam to have with this super spicy curry.

Here is the recipe for that spicy mochai kai curry.

Other names:
Mochai payaru (Tamil), Val dal (Hindi),Hyacinth bean or field bean (English)



Ingredients:
Dry Mochai payaru - 1 cup (or) Fresh ones - 1/2 kg
Shallot onion - 4
Shredded coconut - 2 tbsp
cumin seeds - 1 tsp
oil - 1 tsp
fennel seeds (sombu)- 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
coriander powder - 2 tsp
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
tomato - 1 (chopped)
salt - to taste

Preparation:

(If you are using the fresh beans then just start from the method.
otherwise go for pre soaking.)
Dry roast the mochai kottai to get dark spots on the outer layer and a nice aroma with some popping sound.
Then rinse it with water twice. Add water till it gets well immersed. Soak for an hour.
(We can soak it overnight also, if we don't want to roast it.)
Pressure cook for 3 whistles.
(we can cook it in stove top also, but it will take an hour).


Procedure:

Shell the val dhal , wash and clean the beans inside.
Bring to boil enough water and cook the beans to tender.

In a blender , grind the shallot, coconut and cumin seeds together to a coarse paste.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. Add the fennel seeds and let it become red. Then goes the curry leaves.
Immediately add the cooked beans along with the remaining water.
Now add coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt.
Slide in chopped tomatoes. Close the lid and cook for 5 minutes.

Then add the ground masala and keep stirring occasionally, till the koottu / curry becomes a thick gravy.

Mochai kottai koottu is ready.

Serving suggestions:

Serves 4 people .
Serve hot with chapathi, roti , curd rice, rasam rice or sambar rice.

18 comments:

Sailaja Damodaran said...

Looks very tempting.......

gtyuk said...

nice story behind this mocha kotta kozhambu; the curry looks like a kaara kozhabu type, thick and hot,must be delicious with rice and vathal!!

Unknown said...

curry looks scrumptious and appetizing!!Have a mochai payaru in my fridge for quite some time. so sure to try this soon.Thanks for sharing.:)

Sushma Mallya said...

Nice recipe viki...will surely give it a try as it looks delicious

Anu said...

Looks delicious and tempting dear... Thanks for sharing ...

prasu said...

delicious curry dear........love to have it with steamy white rice....thanx for the recipe dear.

Priya Suresh said...

Curry looks thick and prefect for me..

Nandinis food said...

Still I have never visited southern most parts of T.N. Wish to travel . Curry looks perfect for me.

Tina said...

Nice preparation....Yummy.

Shanthi Krishnakumar said...

looks delicious and thick. Nice curry

Finla said...

I am bookmarking this, now i just have to figure out what the name is in malayalam :-)
It must be delicous with chapathies too.

Gita Jaishankar said...

Very interesting soty and some good memories in the beginning dear :) this curry is new to me, looks delicious though...I would love to have this with rasam sadam :)

Malar Gandhi said...

Love country style mochai payaru curry, very earthly flavours...good with steamed rice:)

Namitha said...

yummy curry...good recipe :-)

Anupama said...

Nice curry... I can immediately think of pairing it with soft rotis :-)

Cham said...

I imagine the taste wrapped in banana leaf! I make only kuzhambu, this one is new and delicious :)

Prasukitchen.blogspot.com said...

looks great dear!!

my kitchen said...

Makes me appetizing,will try soon

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