Bhindi or Okra or Lady-finger is a green vegetable that is rich in nutrients.it is said having okra in your diet increases the immune system also lower’s the cholesterol and manages your diabetes.
My children loves eating bhindi ki bhaji,and is often prepared in our kitchen.But we often prepare it in a dry form with just fried onions and chillies.Here we are cooking the bhindi in gravy form and mind it tastes fab.
We are preparing it in restaurant style,called as Bhindi Punjabi Masala.It has that hotel like taste and has a thick gravy like that we have for the Punjabi style dishes.
Now you would ask why the name Bhindi Punjabi…..so there’s a short story about it.I had gone for summer vacations to my home town and my husband was having his daily food from a local parcel point which was started recently.They provided various types of sabji’s.My husband always needs the gravy style sabji’s in this plate he is less fond of dry sabji.
So when he went to this parcel point he came across a new name over there and that was Bhindi Punjabi Masala…and he ordered it.The taste of this sabji had blowned him…On my return hometown he bought it again and told me to try it.And the birth of Bhindi Punjabi Masala happened in my kitchen…..Thereafter this dish became one of the most prepared dish in my kitchen and is always on the wishlist…
So lets start with the recipe.
WATCH FULL RECIPE ON YOUTUBE BELOW :
BHINDI PUNJABI MASALA | RESTAURANT STYLE BHINDI MASALA | MEET THE TASTE
course : main course
cuisine : north indian,punjabi
prep : 15 minutes
cook : 20 minutes
total : 35 minutes
servings : 4
author : suchita pradeep
INGREDIENTS :
- 200 gms lady finger/okra/bhindi
- 2 medium sized onion paste
- 2 small sized tomato paste
- 7-8 garlic cloves
- ½ inch ginger
- 2-3 tbsp fresh cream
- 2 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp coriander powder/dhana powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder/haldi
- ½ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp crushed kasuri methi
- Salt to taste
- Coriander leaves for garnishing
- Oil for cooking
METHOD :
- First chop the bhindi/lady finger’s in 1 OR 1 1/2 inches pieces.
- Grind the onion and tomatoes into a fine paste.
- Also grind the garlic and ginger into a fine paste.
- In a same pan add oil and after it gets heated add the chopped lady fingers/bhindi to the oil.
- Saute the bhindi’s till they are almost(90%) cooked and their colour turns lightly brown from outside.
- Remove the bhindi from the pan and keep aside.
- In the same pan add oil.
- When the oil gets heated add the onion paste and saute it till the paste turns golden brown.
- Now add the tomato paste and mix well.
- Once the tomato paste gets cooked add ginger-garlic paste and again give a nice mix.
- Add chilli powder,garam masala,coriander powder and haldi to the pan.
- Add sugar to the paste.(sugar is optional but its addition balances the sour taste of tomatoes and adds a flavour to the gravy.)
- Also add salt to the paste s per your taste.
- Give it a nice mix and cook till the paste releases oil.
- Now add fresh cream to the paste and saute nicely.
- Add water to the paste.
- Let the gravy get cooked properly
- Add the sauted bhindi/lady finger’s to the paste.
- Give it a nice mix and add crushed kasuri methi.
- Stir the curry and then add the chopped coriander leaves to it.
- The curry should not be too thin.Keep it slight thicker.
- Cook the bhindi’s in the gravy on medium flame.
- See that the bhindi’s do not get over cooked in the gravy.
- The consistency of the curry should be semi thick.
- Your Bhindi Punjabi Masala is ready to eat.
- Serve it hot with roti’s/chapati’s/steamed rice.
RECIPE NOTE :
- Cut the bhindi’s in 1 to 1 ½ inch pieces.
- Adding fresh cream to the curry makes the texture of the curry smoother.
- Adding sugar to the curry balances the sour taste of tomatoes.Addition of sugar is optional.
- Do not add too much of water to the gravy because it may make the bhindi’s too much mushy.
- See that the consistency of the curry is semi-thick i.e. not too watery nor too thick also.
- Do not over cook the curry.
STEP BY STEP METHOD OF PREPARING BHINDI PUNJABI MASALA | RESTAURANT STYLE BHINDI MASALA
- First chop the bhindi/lady finger’s in 1 OR 1 1/2 inches pieces.
- Grind the onion and tomatoes into a fine paste.
- Also grind the garlic and ginger into a fine paste.
- In a same pan add oil and after it gets heated add the chopped lady fingers/bhindi to the oil.
- Saute the bhindi’s till they are almost(90%) cooked and their colour turns lightly brown from outside.
Remove the bhindi from the pan and keep aside.
- In the same pan add oil.
- When the oil gets heated add the onion paste and saute it till the paste turns golden brown.
- Now add the tomato paste and mix well.
- Once the tomato paste gets cooked add ginger-garlic paste and again give a nice mix.
- Add chilli powder,garam masala,coriander powder and haldi to the pan.
- Add sugar to the paste.(sugar is optional but its addition balances the sour taste of tomatoes and adds a flavour to the gravy.)
- Also add salt to the paste s per your taste.
- Give it a nice mix.
- Cook till the paste releases oil.
- Now add fresh cream to the paste and saute nicely.
- Give it a nice mix.
- Add water to the paste.
- The curry should not be too thin.Keep it slight thicker.
- Let the gravy get cooked properly.
- Add the sauted bhindi/lady finger’s to the paste.
- Give it a nice mix and add crushed kasuri methi.
- Stir the curry and then add the chopped coriander leaves to it.
- Cook the bhindi’s in the gravy on medium flame.
- See that the bhindi’s do not get over cooked in the gravy.
- The consistency of the curry should be semi thick.
- Your Bhindi Punjabi Masala is ready to eat.
- Serve it hot with roti’s/chapati’s/steamed rice.
Fabulous must try recipe
Thank you ..