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June 6, 2007

Vendakka Pachadi (Lady's Finger in Curd)


I hadn't used vendakkai for anything other than sambar. I just never knew how to cook it and make a curry. And all my friends would tell me that it is the easiest to make. I did finally attempt to make it sometime back and have gotten the hang of it. FINALLY!


As a child, I didn't eat lady's finger. I mean, I would eat it, but not EAT it. I didn't enjoy it. Why? Because my brother loved it. How can I relish what he loves? We are Boy and Girl, right? So we can't like the same things. And "Eww... excuse me. How can anything he likes be nice?" But then years later, when I completed class 12, I suddenly found myself spending a lot of time with my kindergarten and elementary school friend, Priya. She LOVED lady's finger. And she told me that she could eat any amount of curry just like that. To rid her of her addiction, her mother decided to give her so much that she'd get sick of it. She made curry with 2 kilos of the vegetable. And Priya ate it all with curd rice. I thought, "Wow... if Priya can eat so much at one go, it must be nice". (Now I understand that 2 kg of this vegetable doesn't yield much anyway, once it is cooked.) And I started relishing the vegetable too.


This dish, however, is not the curry I am talking about. That's a simple bhindi fry. This is a pachadi that I love to eat.



V is for vendakka pachadi and this is one more entry to Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables.


Ingredients:


1/4 kilo lady's finger, cut into small pieces
1 cup Curd
1/4 cup Coconut, scraped
1-2 Red chillies
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying


For the Tempering:
1 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
8-10 Curry Leaves



Grind the coconut along with the chillies and salt. Add the curd to this mixture. Heat the oil in a small kadhai. Add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard begins to splutter, add the curry leaves. Add this to the curd mixture.


Heat the oil in a larger kadhai or pan. Deep fry the lady's finger pieces and drain them on a tissue.


Just before serving, add the lady's finger pieces to the curd mixture. That way, they will remain crunchy throughout the meal. This is a wonderful accompaniment to many rice dishes.


You can try to crisp the lady's finger pieces in an oven to eat this dish with far less guilt. But without guilt trips once in a while, what is life?

9 comments:

FH said...

Hi Raaga,you can make many many dishes from Okra.Glad you tried this pachadi and enjoyed it:))
Looks delicious.Nupur's letter for this week is still "T" until Sunday."V" is 2 weeks from now.Great entry for V though:))

Sharmi said...

your Pachadai sounds good. you can make a hell lot of recipes out of Okra

Roopa said...

thats nice to know how ventured your love for okra. This is my first time at your blog nice dishes here!

Raaga said...

Thanks girls. I know there are a lot of things that can be made with lady's finger. Amma made enough and more varieties... I just never learnt.

Richa said...

hey, first time here, glad i landed here :) fried okra in yogurt, wow that shud taste yum!
the paneer butter masala is my fav, anything with paneer for that matter :)

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Raaga great recipe I bet it was delicious :)

Nupur said...

Delicious, delicious! I love okra in many dishes (sambar, fried, simple stir-fry) but never have made pachadi...will try this soon :)

Raaga said...

Thanks girls. I love the number of comments on my blog. :) I am going to post something today and lots of stuff over the weekend.

Anonymous said...

Great recipe. I usually make okra majjiga pulusu. This is a good idea Will try some time