Pachai Mochai Kootu, Lima Beans Kootu

Here I am wishing all of you a wonderful and delightful  PONGAL.

PONGAL is tamizh Thanks giving. Yes this is a 4 days celebration to thank nature for all its timely shower of blessings that helps us get a good harvest and ofcourse good food  for a long time after that…

Day 1 is BHOGI – Its actually a trick I believe that our ancestors did to make us drag our lazy bones to clean the house “properly” atleast once… by clean up I mean total decluttering of the house and throwing away all that stuff that we collect over the past year ( and more than half of it is junk…) … People make a sweet dish called Boli or Puran poli on this day to appreciate all the hard work gone in cleaning …

Day 2 SURYA PONGAL – As the name suggests this is the day  we pray to SUN GOD and offer him our thanks for a good crop this year and pray for another good year ahead. On this day we make “SARKARAI PONGAL” a sweet rice pudding made with freshly harvested ( or atleast new ) rice and dal (and lots of gheeeeee and milk)… Its absolutely yummy I promise. This Pudding is traditionally made in a open Pot which is decorated with fresh turmeric root tied around its neck and then with vibhuti kumkum etc.. the milk and the water is first allowed to boil and rise real high … when this happens people shout “PONGAL O PONGAL” and then the rice and dal is added. When the rice is overcooked, nuts and raisins sauted in ghee are added along with jaggery. Nowadays technology and convenience have taken away Pots and replaced them with “PRESSURE COOKER”  so people call it Cooker pongal .Well well its seems like  I have given a recipe here though that was totally not intended in this post.

Every family has a different tradition and they make different dishes to go with PONGAL to make a big feast.

DAY 3 MAATU PONGAL – Maadu is a tamizh term used to refer all COWS n BULLS in general. This day is celebrated to thank all the cattle friends who helped the farmers in the farm. Now this is limited to households that really own cows and bulls. I have seen people wishing their friends “Happy birthday” on maatu pongal to tease them… I have question to all these hyper intelligent people “Did you ever think if all the cows and bulls on earth where born on the same day for us to celebrate MAATTU PONGAL  for their bdays:P?”

DAY 4 KAANUM PONGAL- Kaanum means “to see”.. Its a day set aside to meet and greet friends and families… Go out and have fun.. My GOD you should go see how the Cinema halls and Beaches in Chennai will be bursting with crowd..

Anyway thats in short how much we Tamils love this long weekend of Thanks giving and the tradition it brings along.

My sister and I loved drawing those huge kolams in the frontyard for the whole month of chilly margazhi. Everyday we would spend quite a good amount of time deciding on the pattern and theme of the kolam and then drawing it.. on Pongal the month changes to Thai so we would end our creative journey of kolam for the year on PONGAL drawing a huge Color Rangoli in the frontyard… While we did this Amma will be busy in the kitchen .. ya she used to make traditionally a feast which will always  be served on Vazhai Izhai (Banana leaf)  and will include

• Sakkarai Pongal ( Open pot not Cooker)
• Steamed rice
• Sambar
• Pumpkin kootu
• Sweet potato poriyal
• Sugar cane
• Pachai Mochai kootu
• Vadai.

My favourites being the last two .. Pachai Mochai is seasonal green beans, it quite looks like lima beans but is not the same. We used to love it and hog it  …becoz its seasonal and we love it… well the redundancy was intended to convey the message. I can make vadais here so thats not a problem but I MISS PACHAI MOCHAI … boohohoh

You must think I am crazy that I dont miss sugarcane during pongal being here in the US. Think whatever you want …but I miss the mochai more ..

So how can I go to bed today in peace with this craving… so I decided to fake and convince the mochai craving teeth of mine to get satisfied as now with “Lima beans” made this way…

Well the recipe was Amma’s so it turned out pretty good enuf to rest the cravings for a while

PACHAI MOCHAI KOOTU:

Whats’s needed:-

• 1 Cup of  frozen Lima beans ( or Pachai Mochai if you are lucky enough)
• 2 to 3 Tbsp of grated coconut
• 1 tomato
• 1/2 tsp of saunf or fennel seeds
• 1 tsp of ginger
• 1 clove of garlic
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp of chilli powder ( or more )

For seasoning

• a small piece of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds or saunf
• couple of cloves
• 1 tsp of oil

How to’s:-

1. Pressure cook the beans. Dont make them mushy , they should be just cooked
2. Grind coconut, saunf, ginger, garlic, chilli powder and tomato
3. Heat oil in a kadai or pan, add the seasonings and then add the cooked beans
4. Now add the ground masala and salt.
5. Mix well and cook till the raw smell of the masala is gone
6. You can have the masala a little like gravy or make it dry.. As you like it…
7. Serve as side dish with Rice and sambar ( or curd rice or rasam rice)
   

Hope you like this simple yet lovely recipe of my amma. I am now gonna have a spoonful of this kootu, close my eyes and travel back home for savouring those wonderful PONGAL moments ….

I am sending this to

Cheers,

Koki