Friday, August 17, 2007

Stuffed Bhindi




Ladies Finger ( Okra, Bhindi, Bendakaya, Vendakaya) is one of the best loved vegetables at our home. That is one veggie that the kids eat without making even a little bit of a fuss. Usually we just chop it up and fry it and it tastes very nice with typical home food of dal and rice.
But on special days, we try to do something different. Or just for a change of tastes and flavours to eat with rotis.

In my early days of cooking, I came across this recipe which sounded very easy. Few ingredients, favourite vegetable, lightly fried.....
I am not sure of the source of this recipe as it has been written in my dog-eared recipe book many many moons ago.

It is very easy to assemble. Most of us will have all the ingredients required in our pantries. But let me warn you... There is one cumbersome process. Stuffing.. It can take a while and as the quantity reduces a lot in the cooking process, we need to make a larger quantity. The advantage is that the stuffing can be done much earlier while watching TV or doing something else. But I can promise you, the end result is worth every moment of effort you put into it.

Also, for all those bachelors out there looking for easy recipes, this is for you.

Here goes...

Ingredients:

1/2 kg Ladies Finger
1/4 kg Shallots (optional)

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon haldi or turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon jeera or cumin powder
1 & 1/2 teaspoon amchur powder( dried mango powder)

Oil for shallow frying.

Method:

Wash and thoroughly dry the okra.
Top and tail the okra. ie cut the top bit and bottom bit of each okra.
Make two cuts along the length of the bhindi on opposite sides without cutting through.

If using shallots, make the cuts in the form of a cross on the bottom (not on the stem side). I did not have any shallots so they are not in the picture :).
Shallots are little more painful to stuff, as they are so much tinier. But on the other hand, they enhance the taste of the dish a lot.

On a plate mix all the dry ingredients till well blended together.

Stuff this dry mixture into the cuts in the bhindi. Let there be enough stuffing to ensure a lot of taste after it is ready.




Heat a shallow pan till medium hot. Pour in about 2 tablespoons of oil. When the oil gets hot, add as many bhindis as the pan can hold without crowding. Shallow fry till the colour changes to a darker shade and the bhindi is completely cooked.

Serve hot along with rotis, dal and raw onions sliced.

10 comments:

archana said...

Nice recipe Kamini. Even we like bhindi stuffed :)

Anonymous said...

wow, mouth watering, slurp slurp

so when are you inviting me home? :D

Saju said...

lovely lovely lovely, this is just how I like bhindi.. yum!

marriedtoadesi.com said...

Looks nice, I must try this out.

Kanchana

Namratha said...

Delicious! This is my favourite form of Bhindi..yum yum!:)

Padma said...

I liked stuffed bhendi...urs look awesome n tempting

Anonymous said...

Hi Kamini,
Its totally weird that just this evening when I was making my usual sauteed okra for dinner I was thinking of you and thought I must tell you to post your recipe for stuffed bhindi as I felt there are no veggie recipes so far on your site. I just randomly went to ur site now and find the bhindi recipe there !!! Guess great minds think alike ... what more can I say :-) Anyways, the bhindi looks delicious.

Anonymous said...

to save time I slit the okra & then saute the okra & then add the spices ......it takes hardly any time & tastes better because the spices are not concentrated & of course saves time.

Latha Narasimhan said...

Oh! my favorite bhendi is here! Your recipe is nice. I have not made this stuffed one for long. you have tempted me now!I'll make it tomorrow and let you know.

Anonymous said...

Dear Kamini,

this is the prettiest and tastiest food blog I have come across. congratulations! i'm going to try some of these soon! BRAVO FOR DOING THIS!

Love,
Madhavi