Bhendi or Okra is one of my favourite vegetables and whenever I am craving for homely simple meal, I like to make this super easy ‘Stir fried Okra‘ recipe. In UK, Okra is not easily available but you can find them in Indian grocery stores. Very simple to prepare, it has slight crunchy okra with soft & spicy potatoes. You can enjoy it with chapati, paratha or as a side with dal-rice.

Many people complaint that Okra is slimy and that’s why it’s less popular. But in this post, I’ll show how to cook crunchy, spicy and non-slimy Okra. Also, while buying this vegetable, ensure it is firm and bright green in colour. Don’t go for it if its soft, slightly pale or with black patches. Fresh Okra, tastes good and you can make this amazing stir fried recipe. So let’s do it !!

Ingredients:

500 gms of Okra

1 medium size red onion

1 small potato

1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp amchur powder

1 tsp garam masala

5-6 Kokum petals (dried garcinia indica)

Salt as per taste

Method:

Start the preparation by washing and chopping vegetables. Finely chop onion and then dice potato. I like to make small potato pieces which is easy while cooking. Soak diced potato in water at room temperature which avoids its oxidisation.

Next, pat dry washed okra properly, then remove its head and little portion from tail. Further, I like to make very thin slices of okra but you can cut it as per choice. Ensure it is completely dried before chopping.

Take a pan on high heat and once it is hot, add oil into it. In a hot oil, add cumin seeds. Cumin seeds will splutter, then add chopped onions. Turn heat to medium, stir fry onions and then drop-in diced potatoes. Mix them well, next add powdered spices – turmeric, coriander and chilli powder. Stir everything together and let it cook on medium heat. (At this point, you can add little water to avoid spices from burning. But ensure water is completely evaporated before adding okra slices.)

Once potatoes are cooked, add chopped okra. Turn pan to high heat with stirring continuously.

Once Okra’s are into pan, cook it on high flame for 2-3 minutes then turn heat to medium-low. Keep stirring continuously while Okra is cooking. Initially, there will be strings between okra pieces but as it gets cooked those strings will go away. You can add amchur, garam masala and kokum petals at this point. Amchur and kokum petals helps to remove slimy texture of okra. In 5-7 minutes Okra gets cooked and its slimy texture will vanish.

It is important to cook okra thoroughly to remove slimy texture. Also, souring agent like kokum and amchur powder helps to remove it. Incase you don’t have kokum or amchur powder then you can use chat masala as well. Once we add okra into the hot pan, do not add water; it will make it more slimy and spoil the taste.

Okra is cooked and ready to serve. If you like burnt flavour then stir fry for another 5 minutes. Crunchy, spicy stir fried bhindi or okra is ready. Enjoy it with hot chapati or paratha. This is perfect recipe for tiffin or weekday meal.

As always, thanks for reading and do let me know your feedback in comments !!