Bhendi Mela is back ... this was the board at the Indian Grocery this weekend ... wonder why all of a sudden he had a Bhendi mela ... Walked in and picked a nice pack of fresh Green Bhendi !! We were anyways moving from Illinois to Tennessee . My worst fear is - No Indian Vegetables !! So I picked all I could ... Bhendi, Toorai and Brinjal ..Not to forget Methi , Tondli ... and some more tidbits here and there ... Sure the guy made a lot of money that day ..thanx to my fear of staying without food !! GOD never !! Hubby Dear was WILD as ever lookin at the bags i kept popping out of the car ! ARE WE GOING TO SOME VILLAGE !! Whats with you ! You’ve lost it !! WOW !! he went on till he cracked the toorai into 2 ... poor baby !! not him the Toorai (Ridge Gourd ) ... i treat my veggies as if they r my kids ... Wash , Wipe , Wrap and Store them ... !! Anyways ... we reached Tennessee and hubby dear was busy with work from 8 to 11 P.M ... busy busy and v v busy ... no time to take me even to the closest Wal-Mart !! I had packed almost every bit of masala and jars i had at home .. hubby dear has a simple solution - throw it , well buy later ... but i and throw food ..NEVER !!
After a few days of eating home made food , Mr H was thankful tohis wife(ME) that i had packed all this food.. final comment - " u always do the right thing " i never say you are wrong !! ha-ha wish i could have taped it !!
Anyways Day 3 of our stay in Smyrna ( Tennessee ) i picked some Cilantro from Wal-Mart .. i knew it i wanted to eat Bhendi !! We call this "Seyal Bhendi " in Sindhi !Seyal meaning Green Masala !
Here goes my all time fav recipe !!
1/2 bunch of coriander-finely chopped .
4 green chilies
1 teaspoon(s) each of cumin, coriander and red chili powders
1 tablespoon(s) G-G paste (ginger garlic )
finely chopped 2 tomatoes chopped
½ teaspoon(s) turmeric powder
1 medium onion
salt to taste finely
Grind onion , cilantro , Green chilies , GG paste and salt .in a mixer .Don ‘t overdo the masala , it should be in a coarse form not too much of a paste .. you can add a bit of coconut if require but i usually do that when i make fish this way . Just to give it a mallu touch :)
Add the oil in a kadai or a large frying pan. Add the wet masala masala. Add the dry spices and tomatoes & salt. Cook it for 15 minutes on slow flame.
On the side , take the fresh Bhendi and slit the Bhendi in the Centre (lengthwise ) so that you have an opening for the masala .
Once the masala is cooked ( that’s when u find the masala getting dry and it sticks to the bottom of the pan ) . Take around 2 spoons of the masala in a separate plate and stuff it in the bhendi !
Add some water say 1 cup to the Pan and let it boil , add the bhendi and let it cook for another 10 mins on sim .
If you have small onion at home .. just take 2 of them ( u can opt for around 10-12 sambhar onions also ) peel the skil and let the onion go into the pan ..round ! don’t cut it let it cook !
that’s it ... Seyal bhendi masala is done !! Eat it hot hot with Rice or roti !! Every time i make this ... i don’t have to wash the pan ... hubby dear sees to it that’s its spic and shiny thanx to him scraping every inch or bit of masala he spies in that!!
To add a sindhi flavor - Serve papad too !!
