OKRA FRY

There are a few veggies that I like to eat but would prefer it was served cooked to me. I don't like chopping okra because of its sliminess and the fact that you have to wash everything - the chopping board, knife, the bowl in which okra was kept in, before using it for anything else. So if somebody could do all the prep work and put everything in the cooking pan and then hand it over to me I can take on from there :). Having said all that I do love okra especially the fried version. Fried okra tastes so delicious and goes with anything - curd rice, rasam rice, sambar rice or even just as a snack. Also it is a very popular health food high in fiber, Vit C and it is a good source of calcium and potassium.

I usually make okra fry or these other two dishes - bhindi-masala or vendakai-pachadi. This recipe does take some time and patience to get the crispy texture, but its all worth it :)

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Prep Time - 15 min
cook time - 45 min
Spice Level - Moderate

Okra/Bhindi/Ladies Finger - 1 Lb, chopped in long pieces
Hing - 1/2 tsp
Mustard - 1 Tsp
Plain red chilli powder - 1 Tbsp
Salt - as per need
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Oil - 3-4 Tbsp
Yoghurt - 1 Tbsp
Sugar - 1 pinch
Onion - 1 small sized, sliced into thin slices

How do you do it

1. Wash the okra pieces well, dry them and chop each into 2-3 long pieces. Keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a wide pan. Add hing, then mustard seeds - let them pop. Add the curry leaves now to roast.

3. Throw in the okra pieces now and wrap well with oil. Saute for a couple of minutes. When it starts getting slimy, add sugar and yogurt, mix well and continue to saute-stir periodically until the sliminess arrives - about 10-15 minutes.

4. Once the sliminess is almost gone, add the salt and chilli powder and mix well. Saute, Saute and Saute until okra becomes crispy. This takes a while - another 20 minutes. If you pan becomes dry add a tsp or two of oil in between.

5. Meanwhile take another small pan and add 2 tsp of oil. Add the thinly sliced onions and saute until it turns semi-crispy. Keep aside.

5. Once okra turns crispy, transfer to the serving bowl. Garnish with the crispy onions.

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Bhindi masala for Roti/Pulka

This bhindi masala goes quite well with pulkas or rotis or even with rice. I usually make bhindi in a very simple manner with mild spices in a poriyal/vadakal kind of a way more suited along with rice. I wanted to replicate the bhindi masala served in tandoori restaurants as a side dish for rotis. This is my version and it turned out to be a super hit

Bhindi Masala

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Moderately Spicy
Prep time - 20 minutes
Cooking time - 20 Minutes

Bhindi/Ladies Finger - 1/2 kg [Cut into half and slit lengthwise]
Green Chilli - 3 ,slit lengthwise
Onion  -1  Large, chopped lengthwise into medium pieces
Turmeric - 1/2 Tspn
Curry/chilli/Masala Powder - 1 Tbspn + 1 Tspn
Cumin/Jeera - 1 Tbsp
Mustard - 1 tspn
Hing - 1/4 Tspn
Oil - 4 Tbspn + 2 tBspn
Salt - as per taste

Method

Gather the chopped bhindi in a microwave bowl. Add 2 Tbspn oil, 1 tspn salt,1 tspn chilli powder to the bhindi and stir well. Microwave on high for 7-9 minutes, stirring once or twice in between. Keep aside. this will make the bhindi less gooey when cooking later.

Heat 4 Tbspn oil in a kadai. Add hing,mustard,jeera. Let it roast. Add in the onions and green chilli and turmeric powder. Saute well till the onions are cooked well.Now add in the bhindi, remaining chilli powder and salt and on low flame, keep stirring now and then till the bhindi is done well.It would take around 20 minutes for the bhindi to be cooked well. When it starts to get slightly crispy, the dish is done.Switch off flame.

Serve with pulka/roti or with sambar and rice.



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Vendakai Pachadi/ Ladies Finger Lentil Curry

I am always reminded of my bachelorette days in bangalore with my two wingies from university- Nivi and Soumi when i make Vendaikai Pachadi . They were quite fond of this preparation of mine, and this post is dedicated to the two of them and to our lovely Indira Nagar days in Bangalore :)

Vendaikai Pachadi

Ingredients

Shallots - 10 chopped
Green chilli - 2-3 , slit length wise and cut in half
Ladies Finger - 1 cup chopped
Toor Dal - 1/4 cup , pressure cooked with a pinch of turmeric, dal must be slightly mashable.
Tamrind extract - 4-5 Tbspn
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Jeera - 1 tspn
Mustard - 1 tspn
Hing - a pinch.
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 2tsp + 4tbspn
water - 1 cup

Method

For most of us who cook bhindi, the first thing that probabaly comes to mind is the gooey-ness of it and the time it takes for the bhindi to cook for that gooey thing to disappear. So here is a method that is faster and easier to cook bhindi properly if you have a micowave oven.

In a glass bowl, toss the chopped bhindi,add  2 tspn of oil, 1 tspn salt  mix well, and heat it for 5 mins. Take it out at half-time, stir it and return to microwave for the remaining time. Doing this step, makes the bhindi dry, and when you proceed with the actual curry recipe, the bhindi cooks much faster and you dont see that gooey-ness. Try this,and you will always stick to this method for almost all bhindi featuring dishes.

Take a pan and heat some oil. Add hing, then mustard, let it splutter, add jeera - let it roast. Add the shallots, green chilli, curry leaves,give it a stir for a minute and throw in the microwaved bhindi. Saute it till the bhindi gets cooked well [slightly crispy and zero gooey-ness]. If you have used the microwave method to fry the bhindi, this step will maybe take only 5-7 minutes. Otherwise, if you are adding fresh bhindi , this could go on for 15-20 minutes. Please be patient.After this add in the tamrind extract, 1/2 cup water, salt and let the bhindi boil in the tamrind mix for 2-3 minutes. Now add the cooked dal, stir well. Boil the pachadi in low flame for 4-5 minutes and switch off flame.

We had this along with rice, kara-kuzhambu and carrot-thayir pachadi , the recipes of which will follow soon. :)

Notes

1. If you dont fry the bhindi in the microwave , and add fresh bhindi to the pan, it will take 15-20 minutes for the bhindi to get slightly crisp and for zero - gooey-ness. Add a tbspn of curd, and a tspn of sugar at this step to speeden the process. I used to do this initially before i came to know of the microwave method.

2.While adding tamrind extract tbspn by tbspn, make sure to taste in between, so that it doesnt get too tangy. The way i prepare tamrind extract is more diluted than how it is generally prepared. So adjust the quantity of tamarind extract as per your taste.

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