An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [72]
To serve: Serve in little individual bowls. The thin, delicious sauce can be eaten with a spoon or with hot chapatis or pooris. You can easily build a meal around the mushrooms. Sindhi Gosht, Yogurt with Tiny Dumplings, and a dal would complete the meal nicely.
Crisp fried okra
SERVES 4
I have discussed okra earlier. Buy it only when it is young, fresh, and crisp. Serve this crisp-fried okra to people who think they dislike okra—they will hardly recognize it. Another advantage of this dish is that it cooks easily and quickly. It can take less than 15 minutes from the time you begin washing the okra until you serve it.
1 pound fresh young okra
Oil for deep frying
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
½ teaspoon garam masala (optional)
Wash the okra. Wipe it with paper towels. Remove head and tail and slice the pods in rounds of ⅛-inch thickness. You can slice 2 or 3 at the same time.
Heat 1 inch of oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-low flame. Check heat by dropping in one slice of okra; if it sizzles immediately, the fat is ready. Put in as much okra as will fit in one layer. You will need to do at least three batches. Fry each batch 4 to 5 minutes, until the okra turns crisp and a bit brown.
Remove from skillet with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain. Sprinkle each batch with salt, pepper, cayenne, and garam masala. Serve immediately.
To serve: Fried okra is delicious with a mushroom omelet for lunch or with a variety of other vegetables at dinner. Okra goes particularly well with Urad Dal and with Koftas. Or you could use it as an unusual garnish for a lamb roast, frying about 2 pounds of okra and surrounding the leg of lamb with it.
Okra with onions
SERVES 4–6
This is the way okra is generally cooked in most parts of Delhi. The success of this dish depends upon the onion paste’s being cooked to the right consistency before the okra is added.
4 medium-sized onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
Apiece of fresh ginger, about 2 inches long, 1 inch thick, and 1 inch wide, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
2 teaspoons whole fennel seeds
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon ground coriander
3 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 pound fresh young okra
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Put onion, garlic, and ginger in electric blender, add ¼ cup warm water, and blend to a paste.
Heat oil in a 10–12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the cumin and fennel seeds. When the fennel begins to change color (20 seconds or so), add the paste from the blender and the turmeric.
Cook this paste over medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom. The paste will reduce and turn a lovely brown color.
Add the coriander and fry, stirring; after a minute, add the tomato sauce and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. Turn off the heat under the skillet.
Wash the okra and wipe it with a paper towel. Slice a few pods at a time into ¼-inch rounds.
Turn the heat to medium again under the skillet with the onion paste. Add the okra, salt, garam masala, lemon juice, and 6 tablespoons of warm water. When the onion paste starts bubbling, cover, turn heat very low, and allow to cook slowly for 35 minutes, or until tender. Stir every 10 minutes or so to prevent sticking.
To serve: Serve like stuffed okra, the next recipe.
Stuffed whole okra
SERVES 4–6
This recipe, which comes from my maternal grandmother, is perhaps the most delicious way to cook okra. Fresh young okra pods are slit and stuffed with a mixture of fried onions, fennel, cumin, and fenugreek. Then they are lightly fried and allowed to simmer until cooked. Stuffing the slim okra requires a little patience, but don’t let that stop you. The most confirmed okra hater will be converted and the ooooh’s and aaaah’s of your