Bendekayi gojju or Ladies Finger gravy or Okra gravy

April 04, 2018

Bendekayi gojju or Ladies Finger gravy or Okra gravy

ಬೆಂಡೆಕಾಯಿ / Ladies finger/ Okra is my favourite vegetable. In this post, I will explain how to make bendekayi gojju or Ladies finger gravy. This goes well with Rotis, Chapatis or just plain hot rice. It is a little on the tangy side along with subtle flavour of jaggery.
Initialy the chopped Okra is roasted on low flame until it's not slimy anymore. This step is important or else the recipe ends up being slimy and not good to eat. So, moving on to the recipe now.

Ingredients:

Ladies finger - 2 cups, chopped
Water - 1 1/2 to 2 cups
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Jaggery - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind juice - 1 tbsp
Lemon Juice - 1 1/2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

Ingredients to grind :

Onion - 1 big, chopped
Tomato - 1 medium , chopped
Garlic cloves - 4 to 5
Coconut, fresh or frozen - 1/4 cup, packed
Sambar Powder - 2 tsps ( Here we use, Bele saaru pudi which is a blend of spices, sun dried/ dry roasted and ground. I will post the recipe of this sambar powder in my subsequent posts)

Method of preparing Bendekayi Gojju:

Roasting the Okra: There are 2 ways to roasting this vegetable, to remove it's sliminess. Take the chopped Ladies finger in a non- stick pan. Either it can be dry roasted or roasted by adding lime juice or tamarind juice. With dry roasting, continue until you see the Okra is dried out and looks little withered kind of. Secondly, if lemon/tamarind juice is added, it starts getting slimy initially and slowly everything dries out. Keep roasting until you see no more threads of slime in Okra. In both the cases, roast with a low flame.
Grind the Coconut first until fine and then add the other ingredients, mentioned under "To grind" to make a smooth paste.
In another pan, heat the oil and add the ground masala to it. Then fry the masala until the raw smell is gone and it leaves oil on the sides.
Now add roasted Okra pieces, tamarind juice, jaggery, salt and water. Let it cook until the Okra pieces are done and the oil floats on top.
Okra or Ladies' finger gravy is now ready to serve. The blend of salt, sweet, sour and sambar powder gives a very different taste to this gravy. It tastes so good with just plain hot rice or chapatis.