The Bhindi, Pindi, Okra or even Lady fingers – OR THAT SLIMY VEG!

Why Bhindi, why my husband asked, why..?

Let us start at the beginning. The Bhindi evokes so many childhood memories. Did you know I have something in common with the late Right Honourable Lady Thatcher, the Prime Minister known as the Iron Lady, both of our fathers were greengrocers! My father ran a shop in the heart of Toxteth in Granby Street in the 1970’s and early 80’s. He catered for the local Jamaican and African communities and I always remember boxes of Yam and Plantain scattered around the shop in between the huge variety of vegetables that were always in abundance, this included the Okra/bhindi.

I’m going to refer to the Bhindi, Pindi, gombo or lady fingers in this article by the name Bhindi! Why has it got so many names and why did my dad stock it!!?? You might think has she gone off on a tangent, yes probably, but all relevant, so keep following the story!

Bhindi is used in many dishes by the African and Indian subcontinent and was originally discovered centuries ago around the banks of the river Nile. It is believed that the Spanish Muslims took the Bhindi to the East. It is also commonly used in the Southern colonies of America as it was taken over there during the slave trade, and what is the main ingredient in Gumbo, not prawns or sausages, but gombo or okra or bhindi!!!

Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure of cooking bhindi often as the other half thinks he doesn’t like it, but he says that to a lot of things so I’m taking that with a pinch of salt and will slowly bring this very under rated vegetable back in his good books. I genuinely think he does confuse it with Karela or bitter melon which I think is more of an acquired taste and as he did have a bad experience with the Karela when he went to the motherland! If the bhindi is not cooked properly they go slimy, this can happen as okra pods are ‘mucilaginous’, aren’t I very technical! We will come back to that in a moment.  

Going back to the East, and why my mother grew up cooking it. I think the older generation, here I am referring to my mum and my mother-in-law were probably a lot more adventurous than we are now and cooked a lot more variety of vegetables which are all readily available, than us the second generation. I genuinely do believe we have become more westernised with our taste buds and will object to everything if we could, Okay, I am being bit extreme there, but honestly most of my brothers won’t eat the stuff, my husband has refused in so many years of marriage and I certainly can’t see my kids touching the stuff too. So yes I am on a quest to bring back to life his poor sad vegetable.

 
 

Why do they object so vehemently you ask? Bhindi or as they would say that slimy thing, will produce a lot of slime if not cooked properly. The okra pods, the white seeds that you see when you cut open a bhindi are mucilaginous which means the fibres soak up water and become slimy and mucous like. The easiest way to get around this is by sealing it in a quick stir fry, or as in the chicken bhindi curry below by quickly frying them. Other ways of making them less slimy is adding a souring agent like lemon or vinegar or amchoor or mango powder.  Gumbo which also has bhindi in is cooked for a long time so that breaks down those fibres and the slime will clear.

So the commonest ways in the East to cook bhindi is either to dry fry it in a few spices like cumin and mustard, or deep fry the bhindi , this is common in the Indian subcontinent where they use semolina, rice flour and even gram flour flavoured with spices to make delicious snacks which are extremely Moorish,  and there is  even Southern fried okra version too!

Right now that I have waffled long enough it’s about time I gave you the recipe that we did live recently on our facebook page ‘fozia’s kashmiri curry kitchen’, and don’t forget the live cook along video is available on our Youtube channel ‘fozia’s curries and cakes’ along with all of the other live shows we have done during lockdown. It has been posted below the recipe for easy access in case you miss out something on the recipe. Here I have highlighted the chciken with bhindi, but lamb with bhindi is truly amazing and of course the classic bhindi curry on  it’s on own is a very beautiful creation.

Chicken and bhindi curry

Ingredients

3 medium onions

300mls oil or mix ghee and oil

3-4 cloves

Bay leaves

Cinnamon stick

2-3 chunky chillies, optional

Coriander stalk, optional

2 inches ginger peeled

1 bulb garlic peeled and chopped

1 tin tomatoes

1.5 tbsp salt

1 tbsp turmeric

1 tbsp curry powder

1/4 tbsp chilli powder

1 tbsp cumin powder

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 medium chicken, I asked the butcher to have the skin off and cut into small pieces

You can use a kilo of chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces but on the bone is better for this recipe

500g fresh or frozen bhindi..if using frozen..cook from frozen ..don’t thaw out!

3 fresh tomatoes chopped

1 tbsp garam masala pkt

1 tbsp garam masala whole..then ground down

1/2 bunch fresh coriander chopped, optional

A little tip for you veggie/vegans – omit the chicken and use a kilo of bhindi instead!!

Method

  1. Prep the bhindi, wash the bhindi first, then pat dry as much as possible. Top and tail each bhindi and cut into 1 inch chunks, this is done in groups together, not individually! Put the bhindi aside to allow it to dry out more, this will help prevent the slime build up.
  2. In a medium/large aluminium pan, add 3 medium sliced onions, the oil or oil and ghee combination, bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon sticks, and grated ginger, coriander stalks and chunky chillies ( optional)and cook on a medium heat until the onions are tender and have caramelized. The darker the onions, without burning them, the more depth of flavour you will get in the sauce. Stir regularly as all of those sticky bits at the bottom of the pan also impart more flavour.
  3. Once the desired consistency has been achieved then add the tin of chopped tomatoes and literally a splash of water, about 100mls. Put the lids on and cook for a further 10-15minutes cooking out the acidity of the tomatoes, but do stir regularly too.
  4. Once the tomatoes have cooked through then add the spices and salt and cook through with another splash of water and stir for a few minutes. You can cook this mix on a lower heat for longer with a little extra water if you wish and have the time to stir more to break down the onions, that is fine too.
  5. Add the chicken to the pan and stir through then cover for a few minutes to seal the chicken. Whilst this is happening in another pan add enough oil to fry the bhindi. Once the oil is hot fry the bhindi in batches and add to the chicken mix. Add another 100mls of water and the fresh tomatoes and stir through. Initially put the pan lid on and cook for a few minutes on high heat to let the tomatoes breakdown in the steam, this will add more sauce to the curry. Stir again, then lower the heat, literally on simmer and cook for a further 20 to 30minutes or until the chicken and bhindi are tender and a beautiful thick sauce has been created.
  6. check the seasoning and add a tiny bit more salt if needed. Add the two varieties of garam masala and the fresh coriander tops chopped. Turn off heat and leave the lid on until ready to serve as the residual heat will keep cooking it gently.