Bendakaya Pulusu(Okra Stew )
May 19th, 2009 | By Sowjanya | Category: All Recipes, Soups & Stews, Veg - Recipes
I have a thousand reasons to quote why there was a delay to my new posts 🙂 . Well atleast to name of few so my dear readers would be aware of, I have been busy with meetings at office, and the weekends occupied catching up with friends to watch the election results in India (Pretty Interesting huh!), and a visit to a friends party. Alright Alright I know that may not be an excuse to stop blogging but all that apart, the recipe that I’m going to post today is a delicious sweet and tangy dish made with bendakaya aka okra. Eat it with steamed rice, ghee and mudda pappu. I bet you’ll fall in love with this simple yet delicious dish.
Ingredients:
25 lady’s fingers – Wash, pat dry with a kitchen towel and cut into 1 ½ to 2 “pieces.
3 – 4 tbsps of cooking oil
½ tsp of mustard seeds (avalu)
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
a big pinch of methi seeds (about 10)
8-10 (curry leaves)
3 medium sized onions (about 2 cups finely chopped)
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 tsps of red chilli powder (adjust)           ÂÂ
1 big lime sized tamarind (soaked in ¼ cup of water and pulp extracted)
2 tbsps of grated jaggery or 3 tbsps of sugar (increase or decrease according to you sweet levels)
1 garlic clove + 1 tsp cumin seeds (crush together coarsely and set aside)
2 tbsps freshly chopped coriander leaves for garnish
How to:
- Heat oil in a deep and wide bottomed pan. On low flame, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they start popping, add methi seeds, curry leaves and saute for 30 seconds. Watch out! Do not burn them. You just want the flavors to come out of them.
- Add chopped onions, turmeric and salt. On medium flame fry the onions for about 15 mts or till the onions turn light brown in color. Once light brown, add chilli powder and saute for a minute.
- Add the cut okra (bendakaya) pieces, mix gently with the onions. Cover and cook for 10 minutes on low flame till the bendakaya turns a little soft.
- Add tamarind juice, jaggery/sugar,2 cups of water and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cook for 10 more minutes till the gravy turns slightly thick or reaches your desired consistency. (Generally pulusu in andhra is slightly watery).
- Just before turning it off, add the crushed garlic and cumin seeds, adjust salt and chilli powder and let cook for a couple more minutes. As soon as you add crushed garlic you notice a nice blend of flavours coming out that you can smell so easily.
- Turn off the flame, garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.
- Serve hot with steamed rice, mudda pappu and ghee.
Delicious okra stew..looks amazing..
What ever reason, glad to see you back in the blogosphere 🙂 We love okra at home. I loved this recipe as it is easy and does not have coconut in it.
uummmm mouthwatering this is my one of all time fav.
First time to this delicious blog…love Okra in any form………stew looks tempting
Oh I just have those okra cut and laid there, with tamarind soaked in a bowl… I was gonna make this pulusu today here you have that wow… looks very juicy and tongue tickling!!!
it looks so delicious … my favorite soujanya ….
Luv anything with bhindi….stew looks great!!
Wow okra stew looks tasty…..
This looks great sowjanya..idi try chestanu nenu..
When ever i make orka, it gets sticky…please suggest some tips so the curry is not sticky
Hi sony,
To avoid okra being sticky, I wash and wipe each okra with a clean and dry kitchen towel before cooking. hope that helps.
Hi sony,
I answered your questions in the mail that I sent to you earlier. If you do not have a tawa/dosa pan use a flat iron skillet instead. Please check the mail and let me know if that does’nt answer your questions.
Really great of u ma’am, i miss my mom’s food but not now after i found ur website, i learnt cooking through u, thanks alot for coming in rescue for people like me who stay outside Andhra.
thank you i am from andrapradesh India I love this dish