10 December 2007

Mochakottai Sundal/Butter Beans Tempered With Grated Coconut

Mochakottai is one of my dad's favourite additions to any gravy or 'pulusu' that we make at home. I was home on vacation last week and mom had made 'mochakottai kozhambu' with it. There was some left over, so the next day evening, our maid, Mary made this simple, yet extremely popular, tamil preparation with the beans. Was a nice evening snack with some hot tea.

Mochakottai Sundal




You Will Need:

Mochakottai/Butter Beans - 100gm
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Red chillies - 5
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 strand
Oil - 1.5 tbsp
Salt - to taste

How Its Made:

1. Pressure cook the beans till its soft.

2. Heat oil, add mustard seeds and let them cackle. Add the urad dal, red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a min.

3. Add the cooked butter beans, coconut and required salt. Stir well and cook for another 2 mins.

Serve warm with a hot cup of tea/coffee.



Sundal is also prepared as a festive dish in tamil festivals and is more commonly prepared with chickpeas.

27 Comments:

RAKS KITCHEN said...

Mochakottai sundal looks very tempting...If you give it I can finish it off right now;D

VegeYum @ A Life (Time) of Cooking said...

I had wondered whether mochakottai were butter beans. You have confirmed it! Now I feel save trying recipes using those beans.

VegeYum

indosungod said...

Mochakottai is one of my favorite beans, the sundal looks fantastic.

Meera said...

Really delicious! Yum! I also liked the "translation" option on your blog. That makes it so global. Good job!

Sandeepa said...

Did you change the template again ? I was thinking I am at the wrong blog :) The sundal looks gorgeous

Laavanya said...

My dad loves mochai too.. The sundal looks delish.

Seena said...

Sundal means thoran?
Haven't tried with chickpeas.

Rachel said...

This reminds of the sundal that you get at the beaches in madras! never got to eat them though I was tempted to..

ushaprashanth said...

Hi !
You can put some asafoetida too for some fragrance!! sundal looks lovely!

Sig said...

I don't think I've ever had butter beans... but I've had a similar version with black channa, and it was delicious... this must have made a great snack with tea...

Mandira said...

The sundal looks gorgeous :) but it is the chilly noodles that I have been drooling over. Don't know how I missed it earlier.

Kribha said...

Nags,
First of all I like your new template. Really yaar. Keep this one. The previous one was very colorful with the flowers but a little childish.
Sundal used to be my school days fav snack. My mom needn't worry about what to give me when I came back from school. I would be so happy even if I have it for 365 days. Adding a little bit of hing would enhance the flavor. Your pic looks great. Nice one.

Namratha said...

Sundal is always so appetizing and a great snack any time of the day...no matter what the contents....this looks delicious! :)

Rina said...

Sundal looks gr8, dear.. I like the idea of grated coconut over it.

Seema said...

Nice one nags.. i love Mochakottai! Its a very creamy & buttery flavoured bean i feel...love sundals! With tea, perfect !

sagari said...

sundal looks delecious nagsssss

bindiya said...

Butter beans are new to me, could you post a pic of these, sundal looks good!

Swaroopa said...

looks gr8!! very tastey & healthy too...

Lissie said...

the sundal looks delicious! never tried with mochai...

Jeena said...

My hubby loves butter beans this recipe looks great Nags, your blue look blog looks lovely. :)

Kajal said...

This dish looks very delicious with coconut taste. Very nice idea to make simple but delicious dry curry

pM said...

ive been searching all over the net for mochakottai kolambu recipe.can u pls post it?

Anonymous said...

hi, looks nice ...but i have a question - does the Urad dal need cooking before its added to this recipe?

Nags said...

Hey Anon, the urad dal is used while tempering, which means its lightly fried in the oil along with mustard seeds and then added, which means no advance cooking is required.

pM - I am so sorry I didn't see your comment before. I don't get mochakkottai in Singapore, atleast, not the fresh ones, but will surely see what I can do, ok? :)

Anonymous said...

Nags, thanks for the quick reply - i posted as "anon" above - i appologise if i'm asking dumb questions but i'm a Welshman and the ingredients and techniques of asian cooking are still a little strange to me.
when i bought Urad dal there were two types available - black (whole) and white (split and husked) should i have choosen the white? the black ones i used remained inedible!

thanks, Gareth

Nags said...

Gareth, its totally fine and I appreciate your interest in Indian cuisine. The urad dal mentioned here is the white ones (split and husked). This is the one usually used for tempering (heating in oil with mustard seeds before adding to any kind of curry or gravy).

The whole black ones are used to make dal makhani (you can find the recipe in this site, please search using search box to the top left). It needs good amount of time to cook if you don't have a pressure cooker, which most Indians use. Feel free to email me as well if you have more questions :)

Nags said...

Gareth, its totally fine and I appreciate your interest in Indian cuisine. The urad dal mentioned here is the white ones (split and husked). This is the one usually used for tempering (heating in oil with mustard seeds before adding to any kind of curry or gravy).

The whole black ones are used to make dal makhani (you can find the recipe in this site, please search using search box to the top left). It needs good amount of time to cook if you don't have a pressure cooker, which most Indians use. Feel free to email me as well if you have more questions :)

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