Bendakaya Fry

My husband just loves this vegetable, and specially this crispy fried version is the goto recipe. Whenever I make this fry I like to accompany this fry with liquids like sambhar, rasam or dal etc., which tastes delicious with hot rice and ghee. Lady’s finger is a staple vegetable in every Indian household and many popular recipes are made using this vegetable like Bhindi masala, Bharwan bhindi, Dahi bhindi, Bendakaya pulusu etc., I also love to add this vegetable to the sambhar.  My mom makes simple and healthy stir fry of this vegetable using basic spices and less oil which helps to elevate the taste of Bhindi/Okra. 

Every okra recipe taste depends on the quality of it, and the key is choosing the smaller and tender ones. Whenever you are buying the okra make sure they are tender just by checking the tips of okra, slightly try to break them, if they are tender enough you would listen the breaking sound and it easily breaks. And one more thing to note is that the cleaning of okra, I usually wash them under running water for a minute or so and place them on kitchen towel/napkin. Later rub them gently over the towel and chop them. To get rid of excess glue from okra I keep on wiping the cutting knife with napkin intermittently.

This super veggie is fiber rich and has lot of health benefits like prevents constipation, sunstroke and diabetes. It is an abundant source of folate, vitamin c, vitamin k, vitamin A and vitamin E and minerals like calcium, magnesium and phosphorous.

• Wash the okra and place them on the kitchen towel/napkin to dry out completely and Cut the okra to 1 inch pieces
• In a deep kadai add oil enough to deep fry the okra
• Once the oil is hot enough add the chopped okra and fry until crisp and remove them onto a kitchen napkin to remove the excess oil
• Repeat the frying process for remaining okra
• Fry the green chillies until wilted and remove them aside. 

Making the masala

• Chop garlic to vertically thin slices
• Heat a small wide pan add 2 tbsp of oil and add in chopped garlic, curry leaves and peanuts
• Once the peanuts are roasted reduce the heat to low and add in turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and dry coconut powder
• Let the spices cook for a minute

Mixing everything

• Now to serving bowl add in fried okra, fried green chillies and prepared masala
• Toss them until everything mixed well.
• Okra fry is ready to serve with hot rice.

• When chopping the okra make sure to get rid of glue by cleaning the cutting knife intermittently
• If you like the okra crispy add in about tbsp of rice flour to okra and tsp of salt and toss them mix everything properly and fry them until crisp.
• You can make this fry and store in an airtight container for 2-3 days
• This fry tastes better with hot rice and sambar/rasam.
• You can also add in some fried cashew and sev to the fry.