Bhindi Jaipuri ( Jaipuri Okra )

I know, many of you sweetly asked me to go chill and take a break after that roundup with some top-notch recipes from your kitchen. But then promise is a promise. Cant lax off when there is Marathon to be run. This is more of a test to myself to see how consistent I can get and what better way to test than cooking! ( if i jus lay off cooking/food, I would have beaten out Aishwarya Rai hands down! At least my dreams of wearing backless strapless gown would have come true!Sign! But, all thats mocking me, is my 'too -honest- to- be- of -any -good" mirror and gym keycode! )


( logo - put together from internet )


Anyways! The source for this recipe is amazing! During one of my ski classes long back, there was this Indian woman along with me. She kept staring at me for a while before taking a slide ( yah! slide - we were skiing remember!) towards me and happily started chatting away in some language which I thought was Marwari. It took me 2 min to break her stream of "@$!@%@~@%@" to let her know "Wait wait...Me know No Marwari!" She gave me 'I-dont-believe-you" look and was like you must be kidding me! (You should have seen my face then!) I told her- seriously! why should I say otherwise and she was like ' you look so much like a marwari!!!!!! ' I have been sure thought by many as a North Indian ( Only God knows why!) but never this particular. When I finally convinced her that I was from South, she immedietly got excited and asked me Rava Dosa Recipe! She said she loved them and in return she promised me a recipe from Jaipur.



And hence in the middle of all that snow with hands and legs tied to skiis, did I make a mental note of " Jaipuri Okra " or "Bhindi Jaipuri". ( Thats one story ain't it! ) I have only approximate measures ( which is to say - My memory melted along with the snow ) but any variations to the ingredient measurement does not hurt the recipe at all.

And also since all of you have finished guessing the riddles of the first Easy Edition of the Open Sesame Contest and are thinking of wonderful recipes to make with the one you got, I thought I will add in the riddle and contribute one simple recipe with each of the ingredients from the 4 Riddle Boxes.

Riddle 1 :

I have a crown yet I am not the king
You cut my crown and feet off with a fling

I carry lots of eggs, yet I am nothing but a veggie
Even with all that I am thin and long not pudgy

I am green and I am gooey
If u dont pay attention, I will make ur dish go mushy and chewy

I do good to your health and to your brain
Which is what your elders told you without refrain

Now its upto you to think and take a guess
To who I am ...Cos I am good too and no less


.... which smarty pants ( Participating Bloggers who else!) guessed like it was some silly twig I mean okra ( but hey! be warned I am going to make some super duper hard riddles next time, so much so that I wont be able to guess myself all the BS I come up with ;-) ok! Dont get scared..come for the next one too Ok ;-) )

Ingredients

• 1-2 cups of fresh Okra ( And No! Frozen Okra dont work that well! trust me on that one!)
  
  
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
  
  
• 1 tsp chilli powder ( or per your taste)
  
  
• 1 tsp amchur powder (Mango powder - check out the indian stores for this one.)
  
  
• Approx few tbsp to 1/2 cup Besan ( chickpea flour)
  
  
• 1 tsp Kalonji ( onion seeds)
  
  
• 1/2 tsp of Turmeric powder
  
  
• salt to taste
  

Method

1. Wash Okra well, dry them out completely and then slice them into shapes of your choice. I sliced them cross wise.



2. Next add all the dry spice powders along with salt .



3.Toss them well till incorporated and set it down for 5 min



4.Then sprinkle Besan on top. Start with few tbsp.



5.Mix them well. Add a few tsp water. Take care not to add too much. More like few drops so that Okra gets coated with the flour. I like with minimum coat, just mild enough to get the crispyness. Dont like too much flour on it. But its your preference.



6.Deep fry them in oil. The flame should not be too hot nor too low. Keep it med-high to get the crispyness along with less oil.



7.Drain them in tissue towels and serve immedietely. Otherwise the crispyness goes in matter of minutes.



8.You can keep them in the Oven if needed, but it does not help that much. Serve it as soon as possible. Goes well with any rice but I personally like it with my Rasam Rice ( or Chaaru (!!) Hope I got that right otherwise my whole caboodle of Telugu friends will kick me to Pluto!)

Dont forget to check out what our fellow Marathon runners are upto:

1. Bhags not only has a cool template to display but also a wonderful looking Shorba

2. Siri continues her Puck tradition with another of his creations

3. Swati's has started with a bang. Check out her Dum Ka Murg Zafani

4. Divya Vikram with a yummy looking Peas Kurma

5. Non vegetarians dream come true at Valli's Kitchen with her Chicken dish

6. Sometimes nothing can be more relaxing than a stretching on a sofa with a nice Tea on hand. Arundati brews a fab looking Kuwati Style Tea

7.Laks made a 'cant-afford-to-miss' cake. I esp loved the inclusion of Tutti Frutty part.yum!