Palak Bhendi Masala (Spinach Okra Curry).

"Palak Bhendi Masala / Spinach Lady's Finger (Okra) Curry" ... This is an very old simple curry of mine that I had stopped preparing to cut down on oil ... Today felt like relishing it with some parathas ... A delicious curry that tastes awesome when served with Roti /Chapati /Parota .... Yummilicious ..... 

** Ahhaa but for my treasure of old hand written recipe books, this recipe would not have seen the day today or maybe would have when I came across somewhere, somehow. Those days are gone by when we dug into recipe books for hours to find something appropriate to cook. Now with a click away you find everything at fingertips. But the smell of those papers and the turmeric or gravy stains that spilled out on the pages of the books are nothing less than romance for those who love cooking. My childhood treasure has always been books and I love reading them, but for the last decade almost everything has come to a standstill, I try to pick up where I left, but nothing holds my interests beyond a few pages. I become restless and just love to close my eyes and dream off to nowhere. I am surprised I can sit now for an hour just closing my eyes oblivious to everything in my surrounding without wanting to do anything much. Is it age catching up or is it laziness engulfing me??? Not at all sure, but whatever, it gives me peace of mind and I am loving it, nothing~nowhere~no-one. 

** But one thing that gives me pleasure and surprises are my old recipe books, I can browse through them for hours, while some give me nostalgic memories of either people or events, some make me still breathe in and feel the aroma in between the ingredients, while some Urrgggh, not worth mentioning, flop stories but still written with love so that history does not repeat. Searching through my books, at times I come across recipes which I used to prepare often, but have not done so now, for decades as either it has lapsed from my memory or I have ear marked it as too much of calories. This one belongs to the later category, yep, it is slightly more in calories as the bhendi/lady’s finger here is deep fried. Those days though I did have the luxury of microwave, I did not use it much as I feared what I read, so resorted to old or traditional methods. I did try out much later the mw method, but somehow, was not satisfied, maybe I did not do it right, no idea, coz. after that other priorities took over in life and I gave up on cooking elaborate dishes, sigh such is Life, You can’t have them all. 

** Coming to the recipe, it has been ringing in my ears for a few days to buy Palak whenever I go to the market, but somehow when I buy them either I forget to buy bhendi or when I buy bhendi I forget the palak. Finally, this time round when hubby brought home some gavati bhendi on his way back home I thought of going and buying some palak too so that I can prepare this dish and relish it to my heart's content. Gavati behndi/ ladys finger / okra are available with people sitting to sell their veggies bringing them all way down from nearby villages. These are at times large and sometime very small but tender and tastier. They cook faster too and tastes great when given slits and filled with masala to tava fry the same, which is called bhendi chur churi in my home, well, yes again another dish yet to be posted. As for today it is this delicious bhendi dish with palak gravy that is sure to be loved by all in your home. Serve it with roti / chapati/ paratha for best combo and I assure you children will love them and not fuss about. Also this assures that they eat plenty of vegetables which is necessary for their growth. 

** Here is my own recipe for "Palak Bhendi Masala / Spinach Lady's Finger (Okra) Curry" … My Style … Try it, sure to love it … 

** Ingredients : 

Palak / Spinach : 1 bundle 

Bhendi / Lady’s Finger / Okra : 250 gms. 

Onion / Piyavu / Kanda : 1 extra large or 2 medium sized finely chopped. 

Curry Leaves / Kadipatta / Karbev : 10-12 fresh ones. 

Ginger / Alle’ / Adrak : ½ inch, finely chopped. 

Garlic / Losun / Lehsun : 8-10 large cloves, finely chopped. 

Green Chillies / Tarni Mirsanga / Hirwi Mirchi : 6-8 less spicy one’s (or as per your taste), finely chopped. 

Tomato : 1 medium sized cut into rings for garnishing. 

Lemon / Nimbo / Limbiyo : 1 

Salt to taste / Namak swad anusar. 

** Masala Powders : 

Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder : 1 tsp 

Garam Masala Powder : ¼ tsp 

Fennel / Saunf / Badisep Powder : ¼ tsp 

Coriander / Dhania Powder : ½ tsp 

Jeera / Cumin Powder : ¼ tsp 

Amchur / Dry Mango Powder : ½ tsp 

**Any edible Oil : ½ cup 

** For Preparing the Bhendi / Lady’s Finger / Okra : Wash the bhendi/ladys finger/okra and wipe them dry. Slice off the edges and then cut them horizontally into ½ inch thick rings. Now heat the ½ cup of oil in a thick bottomed kadai, when smoking hot, lower to medium and add in the sliced bhendi and fry till light brown and crisp in color. 

** Remove the fried bhendi using a ringed spatula draining off as much excess oil as possible and put it on an absorbent paper for the remaining excess oil to get drained away. Prepare this when the palak is being cooked and keep it ready aside. 

** For Preparing the Palak / Spinach : Meanwhile, pick, clean and wash the palak leaves well, only leaves will be used. Chop them roughly into medium pieces and put them in a pressure cooker pan with one cup of water and pressure cook on medium flame to one whistle. Let the pressure fall on it own and cool down. 

** Once you are able to remove the palak, drain off the water and put the cooked palak in mixer grinder. Do not throw away the water, but keep it aside for later use to add in to the curry. Use only that much water that is necessary to grind the palak into a thick puree. Remove and keep it ready aside. 

** To Prepare the Curry : Now check the remaining leftover oil after frying the bhendi in kadai, if you find it more remove some and keep it aside, you can use it while preparing other veggies. Heat the remaining oil in kadai, when hot lower the heat to medium and add in the finely chopped onions and fry till they slightly change in colour. 

** Now add in the finely chopped garlic, ginger, green chillies and further fry for another 4-5 minutes till the garlic is also well fried. Now add in the curry leaves, fry for a second and then add in the Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder, Garam Masala Powder, Fennel Powder, Coriander Powder, Jeera Powder, Amchur Powder and fry on low heat for a minute or two. 

** Do not let the masala powders burn, if too dry sprinkle some of the palak cooked water kept aside and it will not burn but help in frying. Finally add in the ground palak puree, salt to taste and mix well. Add in some of the remaining strained water if necessary. 

** Bring to a boil, on medium heat, stirring often. When you see bubbles on surface, lower the heat, once again check the consistency of the gravy and then cover and let simmer for a good 5 minutes. Check and stir in between to avoid getting burnt at the bottom. Remove from fire and add in the sliced tomatoes and the fried bhendi / lady’s finger / okra kept aside and mix well. 

** "Palak Bhendi Masala / Spinach Lady's Finger (Okra) Curry" is done and ready to be served. Always serve this dish hot with roti/chapatti/paratha or any other dish of your choice along with a piece of lemon. I served it with simple “Phulkas” and they tasted awesome. You can also serve it with fried rice or any other mildly spiced rice of your choice. 

** Do prepare this awesome delicious spinach curry with the addition of bhendi / okara which is sure to be loved by your family and friends. I am sure this is a little bit different dish from the routine one’s will be loved by all, my friend’s always relished it with delight. Also please do send in a feedback either by email or by leaving a comment. It motivates me to do more and share here. 

** Note : DO NOT add in the “Fried Bhendi/Lady’s Finger/Okra” prior to serving the dish, if you want to serve it after a few hours or after some time. The bhendi will not retain the crispiness and turn softer in hot gravy. Though the taste does not differ much if done so and some elder people do love the bhendi’s a little bit on softer side, children love it when served slightly crisp. 

** Note : Once again check and add in the spice level suitable to your family taste, you can increase or decrease the same. This one was somewhere in between medium and spicy and you may increase or decrease the same too. But bland will not turn the dish tasty as palak always absorbs a little bit of more spice. 

** Note : In case you want to try the dish but are skeptical of deep frying the bhendi’s / lady’s finger / okra, you can microwave them by brushing a little bit of oil all round or air fry the same too. I have used the mw technique before though not for this dish but to similar ones. Again, you can just cook them crisp in little bit of oil in non stick ware too and add on. But trust me, fried one’s taste the best. 

** Note : I used tender Bhendi / Okra which is available from village vendor, though you can use any one available to you, do not go in for the large sized ones as they are usually tasteless. Try out with small tender ones available if so, they are sweeter by nature. 

** Note : This one is sake of Reference. I have mentioned one bundle of palak as in Mumbai we get them in bundles and I am not sure how much it weighs. This is a medium sized bundle with fresh tender elaves which yielded somewhere about 10 cups of packed chopped palak pieces. The puree was about 1.5 cups.

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