Showing posts with label Okra. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Okra stir fry with peanuts | Vendakkai Verkadalai Poriyal

Okra fry with peanuts, an easy to make delicious stir fry that goes well as accompaniment for any Indian meal.

Usually i prepare this simple vendakkai fry along with sambar for our lunch.But during our last month blogging marathon, i got this wonderful idea of adding peanuts into okra from fellow bloggers.By reading that recipe itself, i knew i'm gonna make this soon.

Adding peanuts into this poriyal give nice crunchiness and totally elevates the taste of the okra poriyal. Don't underestimate the taste of this poriyal by looking at how simple the ingredients and the preparation are! This is one of the recipe where less is more and tastes awesome !

Now let's check out on how to make this delicious crunchy okra stir fry !

Okra fry with peanuts

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Okra/ Vendakkai - 12
Onion(small) - 1/2
Roasted Peanuts - 1 tbsp
Grated Coconut - 1 tbsp(optional)
Turmeric powder - a pinch Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
To Temper
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp

Procedure

First chop the onions & okra into small pieces and heat the pan with oil and add mustard & urad dal, let the mustard splutter, then add the onions and saute till it becomes brown & then add the chopped okra.

Next add the spices(turmeric,red chili powder & sambar powder) & salt and saute till okra is cooked well. Then crush the roasted peanuts roughly in the hand motor & pestle and add into okra along with coconut(if you're using). Give a good mix and switch off the flame.

That's it, Tasty Crunchy Okra stir fry is ready.

Related: How to make Vendakkai Thayir Pachadi / Okra Raita

Notes:

Add more or less of peanuts & coconut as per your liking.
Instead of sambar powder, you can also use garam masala powder for different flavor.
You can also powder the peanut and use it in this recipe.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Vendakkai Puli Kulambu | Okra Kara Kuzhambu | Puli Kulambu

Vendakkai Puli Kuzhambu, a delicious tamarind based curry made with vendakkai/okra. It's such a simple recipe but the flavor and the taste are amazing. Tastes best with the steamed rice and if i had any leftover curry from lunch, i like to have it with dosa for dinner :-)

Amma makes puli kuzhambu with different vegetables and each vegetable gives unique flavor to the kulambu. Brinjal, drumstick, okra and pearl onions are the most common vegetables used in the puli kuzhambu .

Either with any one of these vegetables or with a combination of two or more also , you can make this puli kulambu following the same procedure that i have mentioned here.

Sometimes she makes this puli kulambu with pearl onions & garlic and in the end she adds a few paruppu vada or masala vada in the kulambu & switch off. We call it "Vada Kulambu" and the vadas soaked in puli kulambu tastes so great & it's our family favorite too.

It's truly a life saver recipe when you're out of vegetables and still you wanna have a hearty lunch. So with one simple recipe, you can make so many varieties of curry depends on what you add in it .

Related: How to make Masala Vadai

Are the puli kulambu and the kara kulambu the same ?

Puli Kuzhambu is a tamarind based curry ( puli means tamarind in tamil). Kara Kuzhambu means spicy curry (kara loosely means "spicy" in tamil) and it's also a tamarind based curry but in some places, it's made with tomatoes alone for sourness.

Additionally, in some places, coconut masala is used for making these curries whereas in some other places, a small amount of jaggery is used to balance the sourness and hotness and the coconut masala is skipped totally.

So, puli kuzhambu and kara kuzhambu are more or less the same curry with little bit of variations across different regions in Tamilnadu. But both the names are easily interchangeable in many places as far as i know.

Vendakkai Puli Kuzhambu

Preparation Time : 30 mins for soaking | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: India

Ingredients

Vendakkai/Okra- 7

Pearl onion - 4

Tomato -1

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Mustard - 1/4 tsp

Split urad dal- 1/4 tsp

Fenugreek Seed - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Salt - to taste

Red chili powder -1/2 tsp

Sambar powder / Coriander Powder - 1 & 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

To grind

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Peal onion - 2

Garlic pods - 2

Cumin seed- 1 tsp

Procedure

Soak tamarind for 1/2 hr, wash and cut the okra into 1/2 inch pieces and tomato into small pieces. Peel the onion and keep it ready. Put all the ingredients listed under "To grind" into mixie jar and grind into smooth paste. Heat the kadai with oil.

Add mustard, urad dal and fenugreek seed , let the mustard splutter, add onions and curry leaves.Then add the okra and saute it in oil for 3-4 mins.

Add tomatoes and extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind pulp and add into the kadai.Then add the spices (turmeric, red chili & sambar powder) & salt.

Now add the coconut paste and add the water according to your preferred consistency. Let it comes to boil. Keep the flame in medium till the oil floats on top.

Tangy and tasty Vendakkai Puli Kulambu is ready to serve.We had it with rice and potato podimas

Related : How to make Vatha Kulambu

Related : More South Indian Curries / Kuzhambu varieties

Notes:

Saute the okra/vendakkai in oil helps to remove the sliminess of the okra.
Instead of sambar powder, you can use the coriander powder too.
My sambar powder doesn't have more chilies, if your's have, then adjust the amount of chili powder accordingly.
The color of the curry depends on the red chili powder color. So use bright red chili powder for vibrant color.

Related : Vendakkai Thayir Pachadi

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Vendakkai Pachadi | Okra Pachadi

Vendakkai Pachadi, a delicious accompaniment made from okra/ladys finger, tomato and other spices. It's also known as "Vendakkai Thakkali Pachadi" or "Vendakkai Mangai Pachadi"

When raw mangoes are in season, a few pieces of sliced raw mangoes are also added in this pachadi with the reduction of tomatoes, that would be even more tasteful with mango flavor.

Whenever i ask ST what accompaniment he want for sambar & rice, his immediate reply would be if we have Vendakkai,then make vendakkai pachadi. Yes, it's his all time favorite. I'm not very fond of this pachadi like him, but i like to have them with sambar. Surely it's a best combination.

So always i reserve some vendakkai for making this pachadi along with sambar. Amma makes this pachadi with coconut paste always,but i do add sometimes or skip it,either way it tastes good.

If i make sambar with coconut, while making the coconut paste for sambar, i have added a few tsp extra coconut and use the same in pachadi too. But If i'm making sambar without coconut, then i would skip coconut for pachadi too on that day. Lazy me :-)

Vendakkai Pachadi

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Accompaniment | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Lady's Finger/Okra - 10
Onion - 1/2
Tomato(small) - 1

Raw Mango(small) - 1/2
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Coriander leaves -few
Oil - 1 tsp
To Temper
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp each
Curry leaves - few
To Grind
Grated coconut - 1 tbsp
Pearl onion - 1
Garlic pod -1 small
Cumin seed - 1/4 tsp

Procedure

Wash the okra , trim the ends and cut into small pieces. Similarly cut onion, raw mango and tomato into small pieces.Heat the pressure cooker with oil.(missed taking pic of raw mangoes)

Add the onions, saute till it becomes translucent.Then add okra , saute till the sliminess in the okra leaves, then add tomatoes and raw mangoes.

Give a good mix, then add spices(turmeric & red chili powder) & salt. Add enough water to cook the okra.

Cover the cooker with lid and put on weight and cook for 2 whistle.Once the pressure releases from the cooker, open the lid and put it on flame again.

Grind the ingredients listed under "To grind" and add it into pachadi along little water to adjust the consistency.

Allow to boil until the raw smell leaves and then add the coriander leaves into the pachadi. Finally temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into pachadi.

Serve it with rice and sambar.

Related: How to make Vendakkai Thayir Pachadi

Notes:

You can cook the pachadi in open pan too. If want mushy okra, so used pressure cooker.
Saute the okra till the sliminess goes away before adding tomatoes.
Instead of coconut paste, you can add also 1 tbsp of grated coconut.
You can make this pachadi without raw mangoes too, in such case add a extra tomatoes for more tanginess.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Vendakkai Thayir Pachadi | Okra Thayir Pachadi | Easy Pachadi Recipe

Vedakkai Thayir Pachadi, a delicious accompaniment made from okra and curd. It's a quick and easy to make accompaniment and it tastes great with rice and sambar or kara kulmabu or vatha kuzhambu.

If you have followed me on IG, you might already knew how much i like this vendakkai thayir pachadi. Whenever i buy okra/vendakkai, i reserve some especially to make this pachadi. All types of curd based pachadi are my favorite and this one is no exception.

As i said earlier, this recipe is so simple but make sure to saute the okra till they are crispy. That's the key to delicious pachadi. If the okra is slimy and not sauted well, then the texture of the pachadi would be so different and doesn't taste good too.

Related: Vendakkai Thakkali Pachadi/ Okra Tomato Pachadi

Vendakkai /Okra

Buy the fresh and tender okra for this recipe. Though tender okra takes a bit longer time to get crispy and became slimy free, it blends well with curd and tastes awesome.

Curd/Thayir

Again fresh curd tastes great for this recipe. Here in the recipe, i have used homemade curd, but any store bought curd also works for this pachadi.

Related: Thakkali Pachadi/ Tomato Pachadi

Vendakkai Thayir Pachadi

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 Recipe Category: Accompaniment | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Lady finger / Okra/Vendakkai - 10 to12
Pearl onion - 2 nos
Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Green chili - 1 (crushed)
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Homemade Curd / Plain Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves -for garnishing
Salt - to taste

Procedure

Related: How to make curd at cold place

Wash and cut the vendakkai into small pieces. Peel & cut the onions into small pieces.
Heat the kadai with oil, add mustard , let it splutter and then add urad dal, onions & curry leaves. Saute it for few secs and add okra.

Let the onions become translucent, then add the chopped vendakkai along with salt. Saute till sliminess from the okra leaves completely and it becomes crispy. Switch off the flame and allow to cool a bit.