Bhindi fry, a quick veg side dish stir fried using okra pieces and makes a good side dish with roti or chapati.
The bhindi is a common term for okra or ladies finger in most of the Indian regions and it is easily available in India during winter months.
There are quite a few bhindi recipes on the blog such as bhindi masala, bhindi ki sabji , bendakaya pulusu etc and shall be adding more if my readers request for more okra recipes.
How does Okra look like?
The okra is usually finger shaped in size and is light green to green in color. It is also commonly known as ladies finger.
How to make ladies finger fry?
The okra is cut into pieces, given a tempering of cumin seeds, green chillies, curry leaves, sliced onions and then the cut pieces of okra are cooked in the tempering for some time.
Once the okra appears to be cooked, adding dry spices such as salt, red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, black pepper powder, mixing everything and cooking for few minutes gives an instant and quick sabzi to be eaten with phulka, chapati etc…
Other stir fry recipes including veg and non veg on the blog are potato fry, chicken fry, prawn fry, cauliflower fry, chicken legs, fish fry etc…
How to choose bhindi for cooking purposes:
- The okra should always be tender if touched using hands or fingers.
- Tender okras are good in taste and cook quickly just by stir frying them for few minutes.
- The okras which are hard and firm do not taste that good to eat and should be given a second preference while buying.
- Always go for fresh tender okras while buying from the markets or vegetable stores.
Tips before using bhindi to cook:
- Wash the okra well under running water 2-3 times to get rid of any dust or particles on them.
- Take an absorbent cloth and wipe the bhindi well to remove any water droplets present on the sabzi.
- Take a knife and chop off the head and tail of the veggie.
- Cut the okra into small pieces.
- Make sure to always use the vegetable in its dry state as the okra tends to get sticky while cooking and becomes thread like if the bhindi is not wiped well and cut before cooking it.
Ingredients used to make the fry:
Oil: Oil is the base for any stir fried dish and any edible oil goes well to make the okra fry. Sunflower oil, olive oil or vegetable oil can be used to make the veg stir fry.
Sliced onions: Onions that are chopped or sliced go well with the recipe and it actually enhances the plain flavor of the bhindi because of the addition of onions.
If this is not preferred then the ingredient can be skipped.
Cumin seeds: Stir fried dishes smell good if it has the flavors of jeera seeds or cumin powder.
Okra: This is the main vegetable ingredient to make the veg stir fry and they are cut into round pieces and sauteed until it is done.
Dry spices: The bhindi fry appears plain and light in flavor without these dry spices and therefore adding spices such as salt, red chili powder, jeera powder, dhania powder and pepper powder enhances the flavors and gives balanced flavors to the recipe.
Coriander leaves: Like any other dish this ingredient is added as garnishing the dish and also gives a pleasant aroma to the whole veg recipe.
Below are the step by step details to make the recipe and a video too would be updated soon as soon as I am done editing the video…
Check out the recipe below…
Recipe card for bhindi fry or ladies finger fry:
bhindi fry, ladies finger fry
Ingredients
- 500 gms bhindi/okra
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
- 3 slit green chilies
- 5 fresh curry leaves
- 1 small onion, sliced thinly
- salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp coriander powder
- 1/4 tsp cumin powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper powder/kali mirch powder
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves/hara dhania to garnish
Instructions
- Wash the okra well under running water.
- Wipe them well with an absorbent cloth in order to get rid of water on the okra.
- Cut them into round pieces and discard its head and tail.
- Take a wok, add oil and heat it.
- Into it add the cumin seeds, add slit green chilies, fresh curry leaves and sliced onions.
- Saute the ingredients until the onions turn slightly soft.
- Add the cut bhindi/okra pieces into it and mix.
- Stir fry them for few minutes on medium flame.
- Keep stirring and keep stir frying for 5 minutes.
- Cover the lid and cook for 5 minutes on medium flame.
- Remove the lid and stir in between.
- Cover the lid again and cook for another 6-7 minutes on low flame.
- Remove the lid and stir them well in between cooking.
- When the okra is almost tender and stir fried, add the dry spices such as salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, black pepper powder.
- Mix everything well delicately.
- Cook for another 6-8 minutes on low flame and stir in between.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
- Switch off the flame when it is stir fried well.
- Do not stir fry on high flame as the outer part gets burnt if cooked on high flame and remains raw inside.
- Serve hot with roti or chapathi.
Notes
- If the raw bhindi is slightly hard then it takes more time to cook and to become tender.
- If the bhindi is tender and fresh then it gets cooked in 15 to minutes and if it is hard it takes a bit longer.
- Therefore, cook the bhindi depending on the quality of the bhindi bought from the market.
- Lemon can be sprinkled to get a slight tangy flavor if required.
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