Dear readers, by now you must have figured out our love for Okra – we have a separate playlist on our YouTube Channel for this queen of the palate.
In my humble viewpoint, it’s a versatile vegetable that can be used to whip up some really delicious preparations in no time by incorporating it with few basic ingredients. While I am fully aware of the counter-view of this slender veggie being too slimy and disastrously unpalatable if ruined, but then this argument may hold true for any other vegetable. If not treated in a right manner, any veggie preparation may result into less than palatable experience. This is where I will try and help, by sharing few handy tips to handle okra and have a pleasant experience.
Here are some tips I follow to handle Okra:
Selection:
Always select tender and small sized okra instead of long and rough one. The bigger ones tend to be slimier.
Storage:
- Keep it in a zip lock bag or wrap it in plastic bag tightly and keep in refrigerator vegetable tray with no ends of bag open
- Ensure that they are not wet before refrigerating.
Processing:
- Once you take the okra out for processing, wash them under running water and keep it in a large colander, atleast for 30 min to drain off the water. Shake them in between.
- Wipe the Okras with dry cotton cloth or paper napkins.
- Before cutting, apply some oil on knife blade to avoid sticking.
I always prefer to put the okra in colander after washing them thoroughly as long as possible, hence my experience with Okra has been always pleasant and they did not turn messy ever. If you are beginner in cooking then I would share a small tip which my mother gave me when I started cooking, which is that always stir fry okra on high flame in little oil or quickly oil blanch them (so that it attains crispier texture) before adding to your main dish. It removes its sliminess and they would hold good texture and color too.
Okra is our go-to-veggie and we have found different ways to incorporate it in our diet, be it a stir fried version of Okra that we like to carry to our work for our lunch, or in a form of raita for those elaborate Sunday Biryani or like today’s starter recipe – batter fried crisp version.
We have shared with you the Rajasthani Bhindi which is stuffed with besan and spices & later shallow fried to accompany as a side dish in the meal. Today’s recipe is from Maharashtra – deep fried okra, first marinated with ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice and salt & then coated with dry batter of besan & easily available spice powders. For both the recipes mentioned above, it’s very necessary that Okra should be dry and not wet. Else it would not get coated properly and start spluttering oil while frying. Kindly follow some tips and your dish would turn out to be perfect crisp. Impress your guests with this delicious starter and share your feedback with us!
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Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 3-4
- 250 Gms Bhindi (Okra)
- Cooking Oil
- 4-5 tbsp Besan (Gram Flour)
- 1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
- 1 tsp Lemon Juice
- ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
- 2 tsp Red Chili Powder
- 1 tbsp Rice Flour
- 1 tsp roasted Cumin Seed Powder
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp Chat Masala
- Wash and pat dry Okra with a clean cloth. Ensure Okra is completely dry. Chop off its head and tail. Slice across the length to cut into 2 pieces.
- We will marinate Okra slices. Put Okra slices in a bowl. Add ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and mix. Keep aside for 15 mins.
- We will make a dry batter. In a bowl, put Besan, rice flour, red chili powder, turmeric powder, roasted cumin powder, chat masala and salt to taste. Mix well.
- Put this dry batter on Okra and coat well. Batter coated Okra is ready to be fried.
- Heat Oil for deep frying. Fry Okra on a medium heat until it becomes crisp. Okra becomes crisp in 2-3 mins. Take it out from the pan.
- Fry next batches of Okra.
- Kurkurit Bhendi is ready to be served. It's a delicious starter dish. You can also serve it with Phulka/Chapati
Click here to watch recipe video
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