Recipe for fresh Mochai kuzhambu made Tamil style. Spicy field bean curry recipe made with fresh field beans and spices. With step by step pictures.
I have used fresh field beans (mochai / mochakkai) today. If using dry beans, soak the beans over nite in water, drain the next day and proceed with the recipe.
Peel and shell the beans. Set aside. We need about a cup of fresh beans for this recipe.
Take a mixie jar and add in the tomatoes, coconut, tamarind, fennel seeds, cloves and black pepper. Grind to a smooth paste. Add water if necessary. Set aside.
Note: Do not add a lot of tamarind else the beans wont cook!
Heat oil in a pan and add in the onions. Saute onions till soft. Add in the salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder.
Saute for 10 seconds. Add in the ground paste.
Add in two cups of water and the field beans (mochai).
Cook for 20 minutes on a low flame in a pressure cooker. You will get many number of whistles. Ignore the whistles and cook for a full 20 minutes. The beans (mochai) wont go into mush as the curry has tamarind added. The curry will be nice and rich if it cooks for a long time. After 20 minutes, remove from heat and wait for the pressure to settle naturally. Note: I have used a three liter pressure cooker today. Do not use really big cooker as the curry might scorch at the bottom.
Serve with chapati or rice. Chapati Recipe How to cook red rice
For the Masala
- 4 ripe tomatoes (preferably country tomatoes / naatu / naati variety)
- 1/2 cup coconut
- 1 teaspoon tamarind paste
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (sombu)
- 4 cloves
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorn
Other Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 3 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 cup field beans
- Take a mixie jar and add in the tomatoes, coconut, tamarind, fennel seeds, cloves and black pepper. Grind to a smooth paste. Add water if necessary. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a pan and add in the onions. Saute onions till soft. Add in the salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder.
- Saute for 10 seconds. Add in the ground paste.
- Add in two cups of water and the field beans.
- Cook for 20 minutes on a low flame in a pressure cooker.
- Serve with chapati or rice.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Curry
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
For the Masala
- 4 ripe tomatoes (preferably country tomatoes / naatu / naati variety)
- 1/2 cup coconut
- 1 teaspoon tamarind paste
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (sombu)
- 4 cloves
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorn
Other Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 3 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 cup field beans
- Take a mixie jar and add in the tomatoes, coconut, tamarind, fennel seeds, cloves and black pepper. Grind to a smooth paste. Add water if necessary. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a pan and add in the onions. Saute onions till soft. Add in the salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder.
- Saute for 10 seconds. Add in the ground paste.
- Add in two cups of water and the field beans.
- Cook for 20 minutes on a low flame in a pressure cooker.
- Serve with chapati or rice.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Curry
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
Find it online : https://www.kannammacooks.com/mochai-kuzhambu-recipe/
Recipe for homemade soft paneer from milk. Recipe for paneer made at home from scratch. Homemade paneer video recipe.
Making Paneer at home is very easy. We require just two ingredients to make homemade paneer. Milk and a souring agent. I have used vinegar as a souring agent today. The other souring agents usually used are lime / lemon juice and plain yogurt. I have used apple cider vinegar today. Even plain vinegar works fine. Use whatever you have at your home. Making paneer at home is economical and the texture is so soft and fresh. Store bought paneer has things added to it to increase shelf life. Do try at home and you will never go back to store bought paneer again. A liter of milk will yield 150-200 grams paneer depending on the fat content in the milk. Here is how to do it. Note to my non-Indian readers – The texture and taste of paneer is very similar to Ricotta Cheese. Here is the video of how to make paneer at home.
We will need a liter of milk. Full fat milk gives rich paneer. But you can also make paneer with low fat milk if you want a healthy version. Paneer made with low fat milk comes fine too.
Boil a liter of milk. Let it come to a full boil. Once it comes to a full boil, add in the vinegar and mix with a spatula. The milk will instantly curdle. The milk solids will be separated and you will be left with solids and whey water. Once the milk is curdled, remove from heat immediately. Boiling for a long time after the milk curdles makes the paneer hard. Strain on a cotton towel / muslin cloth lined colander. The milk solids and the whey gets separated. The whey water is very nutritious. You may use them while making chapati dough or add it to curries etc.. But do remember that it will be slightly sour due to the addition of the vinegar. Wash the strained paneer with water. It helps in removing the sourness from the vinegar. Pick the towel / muslin and line on a plate. Shape the towel with paneer inside so its flat on top. Add a weight on top of the cloth so the excess moisture gets removed. Note: If you will be using the paneer for making sweets like rasgulla or rasmalai, skip this step of adding weight as we need soft paneer for those recipes. You can use them right away for making sweets. Rest for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the weight and cut the cheese into cubes. Storage: You can store the paneer in the refrigerator for upto two days. I usually store the paneer in water as it remains soft even after two days. Add it to curries, paratha and enjoy!
- 1 liter milk
- 2 teaspoon vinegar
- Boil a liter of milk. Let it come to a full boil.
- Once it comes to a full boil, add in the vinegar and mix with a spatula. The milk will instantly curdle.
- Strain on a cotton towel / muslin cloth lined colander.
- Wash the strained paneer with water. It helps in removing the sourness from the vinegar.
- Add a weight on top of the cloth so the excess moisture gets removed.
- After 20 minutes, remove the weight and cut the cheese into cubes.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Basics
- Cuisine: Indian
