Bharwan Bhindi | Okra Stuffed with Indian Spices : Punjabi Recipes

I generally avoid buying okra. Not because, I don't like it.., but I feel it takes a helluva time to prepare it. Even if I buy, I make either bhindi besan or bendekai gojju. However recently when I bought okra, my friend suggested me to try out bharwan bhindi. She referred the Harpal Singh's recipe. I tried his recipe & we all liked it. You can try it too!

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:
Okra: 1 lb/ 0.5 kg
Onion: 1 medium sized or 1/2 cup cubed onions
Ginger: 1 inch piece, finely chopped
Garlic: 2 pods or 4 -5 small pods, julienned
Green chili: 2 nos, slit
Oil: 2 tbsp

For the stuffing/spice powders:
Coriander powder: 2 tbsp
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Amchur powder (Mango powder): 1 tsp
Chaat masala: 1/2 tsp
Salt: As needed
Red chili powder: 1 tsp, more or less
Asafoetida: a big pinch
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp

Method:
With a damp towel, clean the okra & let it dry completely. Or, you could also wipe the with a dry paper towel instead of air drying it. Trim the edges of the okra & make a slit in the center of the okra leaving 1/2 inch gap on each side.

Mix all the spice powders including salt in a small bowl.

Fill in the spice powders carefully in the okra. Keep the stuffed okra aside.

Heat oil in a broad pan. When oil is hot, throw in the garlic & ginger. When garlic turns golden brown, throw in the slit green chili.

Add the cubed onion & saute till the onions are translucent.

Add the stuffed okra & if you have any left over spice powder mixture, pour it over the okra.

Mix the okra gently & cook it covered on a medium heat. Do stir in between to avoid burning of the okra & the spices. Cook for about 15 mins until the okra is soft, but not mushy.
Remove it from the heat & garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve the stuffed okra hot with roti (Indian bread) or rice and lentils.

Notes: 

• It is important to use equal sized okra to ensure even cooking.Also, do not buy long okras. 
• Okras are very slimy. Hence, it is important to dry the okras completely before slitting them.
• Shallots taste much better than the normal onions. If you get shallots, use them instead of the onions. 

Pakode ki kadhi | Punjabi Kadhi Pakora Recipe

Did I mention before that I injured my ankle & I was on walking boots for six weeks? Yes.., I had a tough time in the first week. I must thank all my friends here who cooked yummy food & served my family for a week. Lucky me, I got to eat delicious, healthy & home cooked food. Later on, I started cooking simple meal by myself. Never made roti, chapathi, paratha or any elaborate dish.

Now that I have recovered, I feel like cooking & eating the food that I missed in the last couple of months. I was so bored of eating the same food that we relished deep fried sins for 3 days non-stop. I made poori, bread pakora & golibaje. I know that is not something, we should be proud of.

Let's talk about kadhi pakora now. Kadhi is a blend of yogurt & chickpea flour (gram flour) cooked with Indian spices. Pakoda or Pakora is a deep fried gram flour fritter. Greens like coriander leaves, spinach or fenugreek leaves & onions are added to the deep fried fritter to get the crunch.

***PS: I have announced the winner of the giveaway. Kindly look at my updated post***

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 30-45 mins
Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:
For the pakoras:
Onion: 1 large or 2 medium
Chopped coriander leaves: about 1/4th cup, lightly packed
Chickpea flour/besan : 3/4th cup
Carom seeds/ajwain/omkalu: 1/2 tsp
Baking soda: a pinch
salt: as needed
red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder: a pinch
Water: As needed
Oil: for deep frying or shallow frying the pakoras

For the kadhi :
Gram flour/Chickpea flour/besan: 1/4 cup
Yogurt: 1cup
Water: 1.5 to 2 cups
Coriander powder: 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp
Salt: As needed
Green chilli paste: 1/4 tsp, we like it less spicy
Grated ginger: 1/2 tsp
Onion: 1 medium sized, chopped
Oil: 2 tbsp
Dry red chilli: 2-3 nos, broken
Curry leaves: 4-6 leaves, torn
Asafoetida: a big pinch
Cloves: 4-6 nos
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp

For the garnish:
Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp, finely chopped.

Method:
For the pakoras:
Mix all the ingredients mentioned for the pakoras (except the water & oil for frying) in a bowl.
Add couple of tablespoons of water at a time & prepare the pakora batter. It should be thick. Refer the picture below.

Heat the oil for deep frying. I shallow fried & hence used a aebleskiver pan to shallow fry the pakoras. Add about 1/4 tsp oil on each mould. When hot, add a tablespoon of pakora batter to the mould & shallow fry on both the sides.

       

For the kadhi:
Beat the yogurt.
Add the chickpea flour, salt, green chilli paste, coriander powder, red chilli powder, and turmeric to the yogurt.

Beat well again ensuring no lumps.

Add the water & mix well. Keep it aside.

Heat the oil in a broad sauce pan. When oil is hot, throw in the mustard & cumin seeds. When seeds crackle, add the cloves & let the oil infuse the flavors on medium heat.

Add the curry leaves, dry red chilli, and asafoetida.
Throw in the onions & cook till the onion turns translucent. There is no need to cook the onions for a long time. 

Add in the chickpea yogurt mixture & boil it on a medium heat. Keep stirring in between to prevent the formation of lumps.

Cook it until the chickpea flour gets cooked (about 15 mins).

Turn off the heat & add in the pakora. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve the pakode ki kadhi hot with roti or rice.

Notes:
You could make the kadhi thick or a little thin. We like ours a bit on the thinner side (milkshake consistency).
You could make spinach pakora or methi pakora and add it to the kadhi. I was out of spinach, hence used coriander leaves.

Methi Poori/Menthya Soppu Poori

Poori is a deep fried Indian bread made with wheat flour or plain flour/maida.

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: Around 30 mins to fry all the pooris.

Ingredients: (Makes around 20-25 pooris).
For the dough:

• Wheat flour/atta/godi hittu: 1 cup
• AP flour/maida: 1 cup
• Methi leaves/Fenugreek leaves/menthya soppu: 3 cubes (I used frozen. 3 cubes is around a cup of fresh methi leaves).
• Salt: Around 1 tsp
• Water: 0.75 cups, a little more or less.
• Ajwain/Carom seeds: 1/2 tsp
• Hot oil: 1 tbsp
• Yogurt/Curd: 1 tbsp

For deep frying the pooris:

• Around 250 ml of cooking oil.

Method:
For the dough:
Sieve the wheat flour & maida seperately.
Add the sieved wheat flour, AP flour & salt to a big mixing bowl. Mix the flours well. Make a pit at the center of the flour.
Pour in the hot oil & mix well until the flours form little crumbs.
Now, add in the methi leaves, salt, ajwain, yogurt & mix well. Slowly add water & make a smooth yet stiff dough.
Let it rest for 30 mins.
Make grape sized balls from the dough.
Dust the dough balls & roll the dough balls using a rolling pin. Make around 5 inch circles of medium thickness. 
Heat the oil in a broad pan. When the oil is hot enough, slide the rolled circles in the oil. 
Deep fry them on both the sides until golden. The poori will puff up.
Remove the fried poori in a slotted spoon. Drain it on a paper napkin. 
Repeat the same with the remaining dough. 
Serve it hot with a side dish of your choice. 

Notes: 

• All purpose flour could be replaced with wheat flour.
• To check whether the oil is hot enough, take an apple-seed sized dough & slide it in the hot oil. If the dough immediately rises up in the oil, understand that the oil is hot enough to deep fry the pooris. 

Here are some side dishes that go well with poori.

Aloo sabzi

Palak paneer

Vegetable saagu

Methi matar malai

Aloo-Matar Paratha (Indian bread with potato-peas stuffing)

Let me not bore you by telling, the same thing again that I was a part of a wonderful team, we shared lunch & we used to once a week go out in search of nice food in & around Indiranagar, Bangalore. One such place was this place called “Bobby Tha Dhaba”. I was pregnant during that time & was craving all the time to eat something different & tangy. All decided to walk to that place, but I was given special attention & one of my colleagues took me in his two wheeler (LOL, missing those days!).

The moment I saw those unimaginably small, unhealthy surroundings, I thought not to take anything there, as I had to really take care of myself (I was 6 months pregnant then). There was huge crowd waiting outside the small place. The walls were made with mud & there were just sheets on top instead of a concrete roof. After a waiting time of 20mins, we were asked to enter the place, where food was served. There was small stairs with 4 steps that was quite steep & the width was very less. I got scared to even get down 1 step there. There were hardly around 3-4 tables that could accommodate not more than 10-12 people at a time. No menu card, there was a big-fat Punjabi guy noting down the menu even before you enter inside. I said, I would take 1 lassi & 1 paneer paratha, my team members managed with the rest.

I started feeling, I was sitting in the kitchen itself. The smoke from the flame(the food was being cooked by burning wood, instead of LPG or electric stoves) was directly entering the place where we sat, no ventilation, no fan (forget about AC). It was suffocating there, I started feeling sick, but the aroma of food & extremely good comments about the place gave us some strength. We were served the lassi first (salt lassi) in a big steel glass that can easily hold around 1.5 litres of lassi!!, I thought I cant even finish quarter of this..let alone having it full. I begged one of my colleagues to share the Lassi and she immediately obliged. I think even she had same feelings as mine ;)

Then came a medium sized paneer paratha topped with atleast 50gms of butter & aromatic dal makhni. First bite of it & I forgot all the pain I had suffered so far. I even became a big fan of all things there, the dhaba, paratha, makhni & the lassi. That was the first time ever I had such impressive Punjabi food. I couldnot believe that I finished 3 different parathas, small portion of jeera rice, 1 big glass lassi & 1 cup curd!. I could feel my kiddo inside enjoying what I was eating, best experience. Needless to mention, after that visit I have been to that small, so-called dirty place so many times to enjoy nice food.

The next best taste I got for paratha was during my visit to Haryana & Delhi. I made a point to eat in one of the Haryana dhaba’s. Later in the day, I visited one of my friend’s house, where his mom prepared aloo paratha for me. It tasted heavenly; my father who doesn’t even try eating north-indian food, said.., it was better than what he tasted in Haryana dhaba. I asked his mom for the recipe & started trying to create magic with my fingers on paratha. I know, I cannot even go 10% of what she served, but I’m constantly trying to make it perfect. Here is one such small effort.


Ingredients:
For dough:
2 cups atta/wheat flour
3 tbsp curd
Warm water
Salt according to taste
1 tsp hot oil (optional)
For stuffing:
3-4 medium sized potatoes boiled
Handful of frozen/fresh green peas
1 tsp amchur powder
¼ tsp ginger grated
1 tsp red chilli powder
A pinch of ajwain/omkalu
Salt according to taste
1 tbsp garam masala
Others:
Wheat flour for dusting
1tsp butter for each paratha.


Method

• Mix all the ingredients mentioned (for dough alone) & prepare soft dough by adding enough water.
• Knead it well so that the dough becomes soft.
• Smear oil to the dough & keep it aside for 30mins.
• Meanwhile, mash the potatoes thoroughly.
• Add all the ingredients to the mashed potatoes, mix them well & prepare medium sized lemon balls.
• Prepare medium lemon sized balls with the dough prepared.
• Take one portion of the dough, roll it with a rolling pin to a diameter of 4-5inches.
• Place the stuffing inside & cover it by folding from all directions, ensure it is properly sealed inside.
• Dust some dry wheat flour & leave it aside for 1-2minutes.
• Roll it again carefully to a 7-8inch diameter.
• Heat a griddle, ensure the griddle is very hot & then cook the parathas on high flame both sides by adding ghee/butter.
• Serve it hot with curd, pickle or any side dish of your choice.

Thanks a lot for passing the awards Archy. It really means a lot.

Blog Events:

I am sending this paratha to CFK-Potato, hosted by Deepa’s Kitchen & Sharmi's blog