Vendakka Kari (aka) ladies finger (aka) okra dry curry

Macro Nutrition Facts

For 1100 grams of Okra which is about 2.4 pounds, I usually use about 6 teaspoons of oil (including the amount of oil used for brushing the pan.

After Cooking, this reduces to about 650 grams, which can serve about 5 people, for 130 grams per serving.

For a 130 gram serving, the Calories are 111 and the Macros are 

Fat (g)   4.8

Carbs (g) 16.4

Protein (g) 4.2

It's called Ladies finger in India and okra in the US. The kind you get in India is longer and the ones you get here in the US is shorter. 

In the greater Atlanta region, you can find the Indian version in many Indian stores. 

In the South Indian cuisine, we make a dry curry with this, or use it in 'sambar' or Vathakuzhambu' or make a 'daangar' which is kind of like a raita.

To make this dry curry, if you want it to be crunchy, you have to wash the okra ahead of time, preferably a day ahead and wrap it in a towel. 

Cut the okra in pieces like these. 

If you have a cast iron pan, please use that. If not, you can use a regular kadai or a nonstick pan. Although a cast iron pan makes it tastier.

I oil the pan with a teaspoon of oil and brush it around. And keep the flame on a medium and once the pan is hot, toss the okra on it. 

Toss it around gently, without mashing the vegetable.

Don't crowd the pan. Make it in two batches if necessary.

For every 100 grams of ladies finger, you can use half a teaspoon of oil (approximately).

And just toss it around, very gently, every 10 minutes without breaking the okra.

After about 20 ~ 25 minutes, when you see the juices have come out of the vegetable and it has started shrinking add enough salt and some turmeric powder. I don't add any red chili powder to this. I feel it takes away the flavor of the vegetable. But if you like it that way, you can add some at this point.

After the salt/ turmeric is blended in to the okra about 10~ 15 minutes after you added, the okra is done. 

Sometimes I just leave it like that, and sometimes I season this with oil and mustard seeds.

This is a side dish which can accompany rasam, sambar or morkuzhambu or just curd rice. 

Satvik Paneer

Satvik simply means pure. In this case, I call it Satvik Paneer because there is no onion and garlic in it. Also called the 'Jain' Version because of the same reason. 

On festival days, food is usually prepared without adding onions or garlic. 

When i was growing up, onions were rarely used in our house and garlic was an absolute No No. Once every blue moon when the small onion sambar was made it was an absolute delicacy. 

During the nine days of Navarathri, Onions and garlic are not used in everyday cooking. I made this as an accompaniment to the roti that was served.

Basically to make 'Jain' version of any recipe, you have to add more flavors to mask the missing onion flavor and use lots of tomatoes.

For about 4 to 6 servings here is the recipe

You Need

Tomatoes - 6

Green Chili -2

Ginger - 1 and 1/2 Inc piece

Oil - 2 Tsp

Butter - 1 Tsp

Kasoori Methi - 2 Tsp

Red Chili Powder - 1/2 Tsp

Roasted Dhaniya /Coriander Powder - 1/2 Tsp

Roasted Jeera / Cumin Powder - 1/2 Tsp

Garam Masala - 1 Tsp

Yogurt (well beaten) - 3 Table Spoons

Salt - about 1 and 1/2 Tea spoons (more or less according to your taste)

Paneer - Standard small slab that you get in the Indian store, cut in desired size

#It helps if you mix all the dry masala powder in water so there are no lumps and also the masala wont burn.

#You can prepare the Dhaniya Jeera masala powder ahead of time in a larger quantity and store. 

#Please adjust the spiciness of this Sabji to your taste.

Method

In a Food processor, grind the tomatoes, green chili and the ginger.

In a pan, on a medium flame, add the oil and butter and once the butter melts, add the kasoori methi.

Add the mixture of masala and water to this and let it come to a slow boil -about 3 to 4 minutes

Add the tomatoes mixture to this, and add salt to this and close the pan so everything can come together and thicken - about 10 minutes

Once the mixture is thick, slow down the flame and add the yogurt and mix well

On the side, if you prefer, roast the paneer a bit, (i do it, because my kids dont like the paneer if it is not sauteed, but if you don't mind you can skip this step)

Add the Paneer to this and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Pulav or Rotis.

Butter Paneer

Butter Paneer

  I have made both the Instant Butter Paneer version posted by Chef Vah Re Vah, here, and the traditional version posted by Sindhi Rasoi, here. I dont have a picture of the Vah re Vah version. The picture above is the Sindhi Rasoi Version.
Here is my verdict........(drum roll please)

The Instant Butter Paneer is really that... instant. It just takes time to assemble the items you need.
For the first time in my life I bought fried onions. (Never knew they sell it in the stores here). And was shocked, because the onions were far beyond recognizable. The taste is exactly like the stuff you get in restaurants. But you will get tired of this in one meal.

The Sindhi Rasoi recipe was a long process, with a ton of stuff to soak, grind, fry respectively.

What you need

I did lose patience with the process by the end. Instead of grinding all the fried onions, I just ground half of the onions. Also, I always lightly fry the Paneer before adding to any subji, because that's the way my kids like it. If you like paneer, as it comes from the store, you can add it like that.
The end result was a flavorful dish. The paneer soaked in the masala nicely and was a great accompaniment to our dinner. Please get the step by step instructions from the Sindhi Rasoi blog directly.