Bhindi Masala

I’ve been chastised by a few friends that I don’t have many veggie recipes on this blog :) So I’m making an earnest effort to include as many vegetarian recipes as I can, although that means my poor hubby will have to make do with veg food for sometime. But then again, he shouldn’t be complaining. It’s Lent anyway.

The truth is that we are both staunch non vegetarians, if there is a category like that. We like our meats and fish and will be perfectly happy even if a single greenie does not make it to our plates. We sure would be a bad example for healthy eating!! Most of the veg food I make is more of a compliment to the main meat/fish dish or a breakfast item - a Dal with a fry fish and rice, or a Sambhar with dosas, or a simple salad to go with a meat roast.

Today was a different story though. I consciously wanted to cook a vegetable dish, looked in the fridge, found some okras (bhindi) that I had picked up 2 days earlier and decided on bhindi masala. Bhindi is one of the few vegetables that I like to eat, with cabbage and cauliflower close behind. Hubby likes beans and hates cabbage. So the only form in which we eat cabbage is in pakodas…Oh that story is for another day.

Coming back to bhindi masala, it’s a yummy dish, and can be cooked quite fast as well, particularly if you have already cut bhindi.


Ingredients
•Bhindi/Okra/Ladies Finger : 1 Lb
•Onion: 1 chopped fine
•Tomatoes : 2 finely chopped
•Ginger Garlic Paste: 1 tsp
•Green chillies: 2
•Turmeric Powder: ½ tsp
•Curry Powder/Kitchen King: 1 tbsp
•Cumin Powder : 1 tsp
•Red Pepper Powder/Chilli Powder: 1 tsp
•Cumin Seeds: 1 tsp
•Hing/ Asafoetida powder: a pinch
•Oil: 1 tbsp
•Oil: for shallow frying
•Cilantro/Coriander Leaves, chopped

Kitchen Items Required
•Pan for shallow frying bhindi and a perforated spoon
•Vessel for cooking and a wooden spatula

Method

1)Wash, cut and pat dry the bhindi using a paper towel.
2)Shallow fry them in oil till they are soft and almost cooked. Remove from pan and keep aside on a paper towel to remove excess oil.
Note: Fried bhindi are less likely to turn out sticky. The frying process should take around 5 minutes.
3)Place cooking vessel on stove and add oil. When the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and let them splutter.
4)Add the hing powder and then the onions and fry till onions change color and turn light brown.
5)Add in the ginger garlic paste and green chillies slit lengthwise and stir well.
6)Add all the spices (turmeric, cumin, curry, chilli) and mix well ensuring the spices don’t burn. Now add finely chopped tomatoes, mix well and cook till the tomatoes get soft and oil starts leaving the sides.
7)Add the bhindi into the vessel and slowly fold it into the masala. Cook for a couple of minutes or till the bhindi is well mixed in and totally cooked. Garnish with cilantro
8)Serve hot with chapatti/ roti
Trivia: We ate bhindi masala with corn tortillas. Weird I know! But we quite enjoyed them that way :)