LIMA BEANS MASALA RECIPE

Description:

I’m a big fan of Arusuvai ithu thani suvai cooking show by Mrs Revathy Shanmugam .  In one of the episodes, she was teaching how to make easy Green Mochai masala, a village style curry prepared with fresh mochai kottai/ Avarai kottai and I really got hooked and gave it a try. The original recipe calls for cooking all the ingredients (Table 1 & 2) but I added the coconut paste at the final stage. Also instead of the fresh Mochai, I used  quick frozen fresh Lima beans. If you get a chance to find  Avarai/Pachai Mocahi / Hyacinth beans, use it for this recipe. .

Pachai Mochai Masala / Val Papdi  / Lima Beans / Butter Beans Masala / Gramathu Samayal / Country Style Masala / Lima Beans Curry 

Method:

These are baby lima beans which are quick frozen.

Take a pan preferably the one with sturdy lid and throw in all the ingredients from Table-1  and start cooking over medium flame for 5 minutes. I was little skeptical adding everything raw without sauteing but the final dish turned out so yummy, onion cooked tender without any raw smell.

Mix everything well, cover with the lid and cook on low flame for 20 minutes. Stir every 5 minutes and keep cooking with lid on. (Cook longer if the onions are too strong) Do not add coconut paste until the raw smell goes off from the gravy. (Small onions will taste great use about 15 instead of regular onions)

One done the gravy will thicken as shown.

Add the ground coconut & poppy seeds paste and cook for another 5-6 minutes. Switch off and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve as a side dish with rice , chapati, idli or dosai. Best suited with  pipping hot idlis / Kal dosais.

Notes:

Yield about 2 cups gravy. 3 Adult servings.

Red onions be too strong for this recipe, if possible stick to yellow or small onions. If you have no choice but to use the red onion then extend the cooking time to another 10 minutes.