Taste or waist dilemma with Bhindi Masala
A plate of food needs to be appealing to the eyes before it even has a chance to be tasted!! We do eat with our eyes first. Bhindi (Okra) for example, tends to be quite slimy when you chop it up. Doesn't look very inviting. Dress it up as Bhindi fry or Bhindi masala and it goes down a treat.
Here's where the 'dilemma' makes it's entrance. Popular bhindi preparations tend to be heavy on oil. The taste goes straight to the waist :-) I had stopped cooking bhindi. Nobody in our house liked the traditional maharashtrian style 'bhendi chi bhaaji' because it tends to be very slimy. The non-slimy version (fried!!) uses way too much oil, though is mouth watering.
Just the other day, a childhood friend suggested I try her recipe. She said it was tasty and crispy but did not need much oil. So now I totally refused to believe it. I mean, tasty-crispy is directly proportional to oil, right? Anyway I decided to try it out and see it for myself.
Here's what the end result looked like
Ingredients:
Bhindi (Okra) 500gm
Turmeric Powder
Red Chilli Powder
Coriander - Cumin Powder (Dhane-jeera powder)[You can get ready Dhane-Jeera powder in most Indian spice stores or make your own in 2:1 ratio of Dhane:Jeera]
Amchur Powder
Coarse ground peanuts(Danyache Kut)
Salt
sugar
Cooking oil spray
Chopped coriander leaves (Optional)
Lime Juice (Optional)
Method :
Wash and pat dry the bhindi. Remove the tops and tails and cut bhindi length wise.
Spray an oven-proof dish with cooking oil. Spread the cut bhindi, evenly in the dish.
In a bowl combine the spices, ground peanut, salt and sugar. Taste the dry mixture and adjust the spices as required. Sprinkle this spice mixture over the bhindi and toss it to combine. Make sure that the bhindi get coated quite evenly.
Spray once more with cooking oil.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C(fan-forced). Put the bhindi in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes.
You do need to check the bhindi and 'stir' it around every few minutes just so it does not burn on one side while remaining under cooked on the other.
Once done, the bhindi will have a hearty brown colour to them.
Remove from the oven, drizzle lime juice and sprinkle some chopped coriander, if you like.
This bhindi is very crispy, almost like eating 'Bhindi chips'. And with just a couple sprays of oil, the 'Taste to Waist' dilemma is also taken care of.
This goes very well with Dal-fry and Jeera Rice; it is the 'Mister's' favourite food combo at the moment!!
Enjoy!!
A plate of food needs to be appealing to the eyes before it even has a chance to be tasted!! We do eat with our eyes first. Bhindi (Okra) for example, tends to be quite slimy when you chop it up. Doesn't look very inviting. Dress it up as Bhindi fry or Bhindi masala and it goes down a treat.
Here's where the 'dilemma' makes it's entrance. Popular bhindi preparations tend to be heavy on oil. The taste goes straight to the waist :-) I had stopped cooking bhindi. Nobody in our house liked the traditional maharashtrian style 'bhendi chi bhaaji' because it tends to be very slimy. The non-slimy version (fried!!) uses way too much oil, though is mouth watering.
Just the other day, a childhood friend suggested I try her recipe. She said it was tasty and crispy but did not need much oil. So now I totally refused to believe it. I mean, tasty-crispy is directly proportional to oil, right? Anyway I decided to try it out and see it for myself.
Here's what the end result looked like
Ingredients:
Bhindi (Okra) 500gm
Turmeric Powder
Red Chilli Powder
Coriander - Cumin Powder (Dhane-jeera powder)[You can get ready Dhane-Jeera powder in most Indian spice stores or make your own in 2:1 ratio of Dhane:Jeera]
Amchur Powder
Coarse ground peanuts(Danyache Kut)
Salt
sugar
Cooking oil spray
Chopped coriander leaves (Optional)
Lime Juice (Optional)
Method :
Wash and pat dry the bhindi. Remove the tops and tails and cut bhindi length wise.
Spray an oven-proof dish with cooking oil. Spread the cut bhindi, evenly in the dish.
In a bowl combine the spices, ground peanut, salt and sugar. Taste the dry mixture and adjust the spices as required. Sprinkle this spice mixture over the bhindi and toss it to combine. Make sure that the bhindi get coated quite evenly.
Spray once more with cooking oil.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C(fan-forced). Put the bhindi in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes.
You do need to check the bhindi and 'stir' it around every few minutes just so it does not burn on one side while remaining under cooked on the other.
Once done, the bhindi will have a hearty brown colour to them.
Remove from the oven, drizzle lime juice and sprinkle some chopped coriander, if you like.
This bhindi is very crispy, almost like eating 'Bhindi chips'. And with just a couple sprays of oil, the 'Taste to Waist' dilemma is also taken care of.
This goes very well with Dal-fry and Jeera Rice; it is the 'Mister's' favourite food combo at the moment!!
Enjoy!!
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