Okra curry in yoghurt sauce

The name is pretty fancy, isn’t it? Its a dressed up way of saying vendakkai curry in a thayir pacchadi. I love vendakkais because they are so easy to chop off of the cutting board. All you need is your hands and a knife, and a little bowl to put it in. Remember Amma’s vendakkai pacchadi….the one she used to cook with tamarind and jaggery? That is one recipe I love. The other is of course, good old vendakkai stir fry. And then of course, there are the stuffed bhindi recipes. I got tired of all of them. And I was looking for a different way to cook these crispy green beauties. That’s when I came upon this recipe on Sailu’s Food and I couldn’t wait to try it! I am copy pasting the exact recipe she has posted…

Ingredients

250 gms tender lady’s fingers, wash and pat dry with a kitchen towel, trim the top and ends, and cut in half if you wish, as I did.
½ inch ginger piece
¼ tsp pepper corns
1 tbsp oil
1 dry red chilli (broken in half)
1 tsp cumin seeds2 green chillis slit lengthwise
1 tsp coriander pwd
pinch of turmeric pwd
1 tbsp besan (bengal gram flour), dry roast the flour stirring constantly till it gives a roasted aroma
1 cup curds
salt to taste

Method

1. Peel the ginger and make a paste of pepper corns and ginger. Keep aside. Whisk the curds and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a cooking vessel and add the dry red chilli and cumin seeds and stir fry till the aromas come out.
3. Add the green chillis, coriander pwd, turmeric pwd, besan and stir well for a few seconds. Don’t burn it.
4. Add the trimmed and cut lady’s fingers (which have been stir fried in a tbsp of oil for 3-4 mts) and salt and cook over medium heat stirring frequently for 4-5 mts.

5. Stir in the ginger-pepper corn paste.
6. Reduce flame and add the whisked curds and mix well and cook covered for 12-15 mts stirring occasionally or till the okra is cooked and you get the desired curry consistency.
7. Serve hot with white steamed rice or chapatis.