Bhindi also known as Bendakkai, Vendakkai, Okra or even Ladies Finger to a few was the least preferred vegetable when I grew up. I detested it even more when I was forced to eat it as being good for your brain and for your mathematical skills!! However all that changed when I had Bhindi masala in Bangalore. If you have been following my posts I can't thank Bangalore enough for opening up my taste buds especially for North Indian food. So here is my re-creation of Bhindi Masala - hope you like it and try it.
Ingredients
- Bhindi/Okra - 1 kg
- Red Onions - 2
- Tomatoes - 2
- Tomato paste - 1 table spoon
- Ginger garlic paste - 1 table spoon
- Cumin seeds - 1 table spoon
- Kashmiri Chilli - 1 table spoon (or less as per your level of spiciness)
- Cardamom / Elaichi - 1 table spoon
- Turmeric - 1/2 tea spoon
- Kasoori methi - 1 table spoon
- Cashews - 7-8
- Garam masala - 2 table spoons
- Milk - 1/2 cup
- Salt - to taste
- Coriander / Cilantro (chopped) - for garnishing
- Any form of vegetable oil
Method
- Slit the bhindi along the slides and cut the head off.
- Heat a large sauce pan / kadai with vegetable oil and sautee the cumin seeds for a few seconds.
- Add onions and garlic and sautee until they become soft and mushy. You can add a pinch of salt to quicken the process.
- Add cashews and cardamom and sautee for a minute and set aside to cool down.
- In the same pan heat about half a cup of oil and shallow fry the okra for about 10 minutes until they brown up on the sides, filter the oil and set aside.
- Blend the tomato and onion mixture into a smooth paste and filter the contents into a bowl.
- In the same pan (remove a bit of excess oil) and saute the filtered onion tomato paste along with ginger garlic paste, tomato paste and turmeric powder.
- As the oil separates add the garam masala and crushed kasoori methi and mix it well.
- Add the milk and bit of water to required consistency (should not be too watery) and bring it to a boil.
- Add the shallow fried bhindi and mix it well for about a minute.
- Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with roti / rice.
Enjoy Cooking!!
C
