Jain Bhindi Sabzi: Okra Without Onion or Garlic

Okra is easy to cook badly and easy to cook well. Done badly it turns slimy. Done well, in a hot, wide pan with no lid and very little water, it stays green and a little crisp. This is the version many Jain families cook for lunch, because it uses no onion, no garlic and no tomato, and the sourness and savour come from a few dry spices.

Serves: 3 to 4. Time: 25 minutes.

Ingredients

• 400 g tender okra (bhindi)
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• A pinch of asafoetida
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon dry mango powder (amchur)
• 1 tablespoon gram flour (besan), optional
• Salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice, to finish

Method

1. Wash the okra, then dry each pod completely with a cloth. Water on cut okra is what makes it sticky. Leave them to air dry for 20 minutes if you can.
2. Trim the heads and tips and cut into rounds about 1 cm wide. As you cut, open any pod that looks pierced or discoloured: a pod with a small hole may hold a grub, and it should be discarded.
3. Heat the oil in a wide, heavy pan. Add the cumin and asafoetida.
4. Add the okra and spread it out in one layer. Cook on medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes without covering, stirring only now and then so the pieces brown rather than steam.
5. Add the turmeric, coriander, chilli and salt. Cook for another 4 or 5 minutes.
6. If using the gram flour, sprinkle it over now and stir for a minute. Add the amchur and lemon juice. Turn off the heat and serve.

Why it follows the rules

Each pod is looked at. Okra is a vegetable that insects like to enter, and the Jain habit of looking before cooking matters most here. Cutting the pods yourself, rather than buying them pre-cut, lets you see inside. A kitchen that follows the rules is a kitchen where the cook handles each vegetable.

Okra is an above-ground vegetable. It is a pod borne on a plant that goes on growing after it is picked, so it falls in the group of foods Jain practice permits. The reasoning on this point is set out on the lauki sabzi page.

Spices are kept dry and checked. Whole spices and powders are stored in dry containers and sieved or looked over before use. Damp powder breeds mould, and the tradition’s care about tiny organisms extends to the spice box.

No tomato and no onion. The usual base for an okra dish in many kitchens is fried onion and tomato. Here the sourness is amchur and lemon, and the savour is asafoetida, so the dish stands without them.

Serving

Eat with phulka and dal, or with a plain curd. Curd is permitted with a cooked vegetable like this, though the dwidal rule, described on the index page, keeps raw curd away from uncooked pulse flour. The sprinkle of gram flour in this dish is fully cooked in the hot pan, which most households accept.

Variations

• Stuffed okra: slit each pod lengthwise and fill with a mixture of gram flour, coriander, chilli, amchur and salt before pan-frying.
• Crisp okra: cut the okra into long thin strips and shallow-fry to make a drier, crunchy dish.
• With peanuts: add a handful of crushed roasted peanuts at the end, if your household eats them.

Related

• Jain recipes: the rules and the dishes
• Lauki sabzi
• Methi thepla
• Panchmel dal
• Chaumasa: the monsoon months

Frequently asked questions