Mochai Kara Kuzlambu | Dry Field Beans Curry | Chettinad Kara Kuzlambu

Field Beans knows as " mochai" in Tamil is available in two form dry and fresh.To say the truth I never ever had mochai in my life time.Whenever I go for vegetable shopping  I have seen the vendor selling the fresh variety of it but never dare to buy it and try once. But when I hear dialogues in Tamil films conserving about " mochai kottai kuzhmabu", I immediately get tempted and my mouth salivate.To check for the taste of it I bought a pack of this dried beans long back in November last year  but didn't try any as blogging was bit dragging from my side during that time.At last two week before i tried this curry and tasted for the first time and it was like normal kuzhambu/ gravy with the cooked beans in it.The curry it was so filling with rice and you don't need any side dish for it. I have some left over from the soaked beans and thinking of doing sundal with it.

Coming to this recipe it's quite easy to make and then only thing is that the beans need to soaked overnight or for about 6-8 hours  and must be pressure cooked before adding it to the masala for faster cooking.You can also make this with fresh beans and for this soaking and pre-cooking can be avoided. Let's see how to make this easy kara kuzhambu.

Preparation time : 15 mins
soaking time 6-8 hours
cooking time under 30 mins
Recipe type: gravy/ kuzhambu
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author: Babitha
serves 3-4

Ingredients :

• DRied field beans-1\2 cup
• Oil- 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• onion-1
• green chilly-1, chopped
• garlic cloves- 15, chopped
• tomato-1
• curry leaves-few
• Tamarind -small lemon size
• Salt- to taste

To grind:

• Grated coconut- 1\2 cup
• Kuzhambu millagai podi-1 & 1\2 tsp
• fennel seeds/ saunf- 1\2 tsp

Method:

1.Soak the dried beans for 6-8 hours or overnight.Wash the soaked beans well in water ,pressure cook for 2-3 whistle with water & little salt.Keep it ready.

2.Soak  tamarind in water and extract juice.Grind the ingredients under " to grind" to a fine paste.

3.Heat oil in a pan ( i used my earthen ware).Crackle the mustard seeds. followed by chopped onion,green chilly,garlic and tomato one by one.

4.When tomato is mashed up well add the ground masala dilute with some water and tamarind juice.Check for salt & spices and add accordingly.

5.When the gravy starts to boil add in cooked beans and boil for 5-8 mins and switch off

Serve as gravy  for hot steamed rice.