Dhaba style Bhindi Masala

Blogging Marathon #66 Week 3 Day 3

Theme: Vegetables that are Fruits

Dish: Dhaba style Bhindi Masala

Today is the last day of this week's Blogging Marathon, and the ingredient for today is our family favorite, okra. We both love our bhindi in all imaginable ways; okra potato sabji, bharwan bhindi, dahi bhindi and bhindi kadhi. Today is a dish that is a little different from conventional bhindi sabji. 

This Bhindi Masala dates back to my school days, when I visited Punjab with my family. We went all around North India in a Tata Sumo and visited a lot of places from Delhi to Manali. Everyday we would stop at some random dhaba each day and enjoy the local cuisine. While paneer and gobi was everywhere; sarson, palak and bhindi were found at a few places and it was super! My mom would make the Bhindi Masala in the same way after we got home. When I started taking interest in cooking, she taught me the recipe and now I make it and we enjoy it here!

The recipe may not be new or unique, but it has a few characteristics that are way different than the Gujarati style of cooking okra. We never add garlic in our sabji, neither do we add onions. So adding these ingredients makes the vegetable taste different. Not to mention, we love garlic and onion in everything and okra is a favorite too. So overall, it makes a perfect treat for us. I made this a couple of days back and we had a great dinner of roti, dal, bhindi and rice. Perfect comfort food for weeknight dinners!

Ingredients

Okra 1 lb

Onion 2 medium

Tomatoes 2 medium 

Garlic 2-3 pods

Green chilli 1-2

Mustard seeds 1 tsp

Cumin seeds 1 tsp

Asafoetida a pinch

Oil 1 tbsp

Turmeric Powder 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder 2 tsp 

Salt, Lime juice to taste

Cilantro

Method

Wash, dry and chop okra into one inch pieces. Slice onions and chop tomatoes into pieces. Mince garlic pods. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. Once they pop, add asafoetida and cumin seeds. Once the cumin pops, add garlic and chopped green chilli. Cook till the raw flavor of garlic vanishes. 

Next, add the onions and cook till slightly soft. Add the tomato pieces and red chilli powder. Cook till the tomatoes start to soften. Then add the okra along with salt and turmeric powder. Cook covered for 10-12 minutes, till okra softens. 

Once the okra softens, turn down the heat and add lime juice. Season with cilantro and serve with roti and steamed rice. 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#66