Bendekayi Gojju (Okra curry)

This is a typical Banglorean dish and a very tasty one too. In kannada language, "bendekayi" means lady's finger or okra as it is also called and "gojju" means curry.

I got this recipe from TOI (Times Of India) some months ago and tried this with a few alterations. Since its  a hit in our family, I do this quite often. Appearance wise, this dish looks like our regular Konkani "Sagle" which all the "Amchis" relish and are familiar with! The similarity however ends here. Tastewise, it differs though both are equally good.  I will leave it to you to try it out and judge for yourself!

Another easy and tasty recipe made form lady's finger is the "Stuffed Okra", which you can see here.

Ingredients:

Okra	250 gms
Onion (chopped)	1 medium
Grated coconut	1 cup
Tamarind	A marble sized ball
Jaggery powder	1 tsp
Sambhar powder	2 heaped tsp
Coriander leaves	A small bunch
Salt	As per taste
Seasoning ingredients
Oil	4 tsps
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Hing/asafetida	A pinch

Method:

Okras being Stir-Fried

Ground Masala

1. Wash the okras and pat them dry with a kitchen towel and after cutting off the edges, cut them into 2”-3” in length and keep aside.
2. Heat half the oil in a pan (preferably non-stick or a heavy bottomed one) and fry the chopped onions till golden brown in colour. Remove and allow it to cool.
3. Combine grated coconut, the fried and cooled onions, jaggery, sambhar powder, tamarind and coriander leaves (washed and chopped) in a blender and grind it into a smooth paste.
4. Heat the same pan (where onions were fried) on medium flame, add the remaining oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves and hing. Once it stops spluttering, add the cut okras and fry them till they are almost cooked. Sprinkle a little water if necessary so that the okras do not stick to the pan.
5. Add salt and stir fry till they are cooked.
6. Now add the ground masala. Mix well. Add a little water if necessary. Allow the masala to be absorbed for a few minutes and then remove from flame.
7. Serve hot.

Serves: 3

Note:

• If the okras or lady's finger are small in size, you can keep them whole (after chopping the ends) and making a slit lengthwise (to check for any worms). I am a little paranoid about this.
• Stir-Frying the okras is necessary to prevent them from letting out a glue like substance.
• Instead of the regular tamarind, you can also use the tamarind extract whch is now easily available in the super market - in which case you can use about 1/2 - 3/4 tsp of the tamarind extract.
• This dish tastes good with rice and dal or rice and curd or even with chapatis.