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 Recipe
Ingredients:
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. Check here for Chickpeas Sundal Recipe.
is that the mochai sundal called as butter beans ??? isnt it navy beans
i thnk butter beans isnt this …. pl correct it if u feel its wrong
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 🙂
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, 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
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? 🙂
hi, looks nice …but i have a question – does the Urad dal need cooking before its added to this recipe?
ive been searching all over the net for mochakottai kolambu recipe.can u pls post it?
This dish looks very delicious with coconut taste. Very nice idea to make simple but delicious dry curry