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Why It Works
- Drying okra completely and sautéing it in sizzling oil earlier than including liquid helps restrict mucilage launch, stopping a slimy texture.
- Tamarind’s acidity breaks down okra’s mucilage whereas jaggery balances the sourness of the tamarind and helps create a shiny, wealthy sauce.
Okra is a polarizing vegetable. Some folks adore its grassy taste and tender chunk, whereas others recoil on the very point out of its notorious slime. That slick, sticky texture—attributable to a substance referred to as mucilage—has earned it a less-than-stellar popularity in sure kitchens. However that very same slime is what makes okra so helpful in dishes the place thickening is the objective. In Southern gumbos, for instance, it enriches the broth whereas thickening it; in West African stews like ogbono and ewedu, it contributes a fascinating lush, velvety consistency.
Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus, often called girl’s fingers in England and English-influenced nations like India) is the edible seed pod of a flowering plant native to East Africa. Over centuries, it is traveled far and huge, adapting to numerous regional cuisines, and in every one, cooks have discovered their very own option to harness or tame its signature mucilage.
In lots of Indian preparations, particularly dry sabzis, cooks go to nice lengths to scale back the vegetable’s sliminess. My household’s recipe for okra—a tangy-sweet Maharashtrian okra sauté—does simply that, with assist from just a few kitchen tips and regional taste signatures. Once I was gathering recipes for my ebook The Important Marathi Cookbook, my father’s cousin, Jyoti Marathe Joshi, shared a model handed down from her mom, Susheela Marathe. My aunt instructed me that, like many dishes from our West Coast homeland, this recipe incorporates a stability of tart and candy: tamarind pulp for acidity and jaggery for mellow sweetness. Our folks (the Konkanastha group) often love a little bit of sweetness in our savory meals, and that is the case on this dish. Each elements additionally play useful roles: Tamarind’s acidity can barely denature the polysaccharides in okra mucilage and scale back the perceived sliminess, whereas jaggery balances the sourness of the tamarind.
Critical Eats / Jatin Sharma
To make sure that the okra is crisp and dry quite than gummy, I completely dry it earlier than chopping. Drying okra earlier than chopping is efficient as a result of mucilage is extra prone to be activated by water, so beginning with dry pods is essential. I additionally minimize the okra into massive chunks quite than slices, as much less minimize floor space means much less slime launched from the inside. A fast sauté in sizzling oil earlier than the tamarind and jaggery are added to the skillet helps seal the minimize surfaces, additional minimizing the goo.
The result’s tender okra with simply sufficient chunk, cloaked in a lush, sweet-sour sauce, with a texture even slime-averse okra eaters will love. It is an on a regular basis dish that is vivid, daring, and for me, deeply nostalgic. I prefer it finest with a mound of sizzling rice or a stack of chapatis to take in each little bit of the sauce.
This Candy and Bitter Indian Stir-Fry Makes the Most of an Underrated Summer time Veggie
Prepare dinner Mode
(Maintain display awake)
For the Tamarind Pulp:
For the Okra:
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1 pound (453 g) recent okra, washed, drained, and dried nicely
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3 tablespoons (45 ml) impartial oil comparable to vegetable, avocado, or grapeseed oil
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1 teaspoon complete brown or black mustard seeds
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3/4 teaspoon floor turmeric
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Pinch of asafetida, non-obligatory (see notes)
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4 tablespoons tamarind pulp and juice from above
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2 tablespoons chopped or grated jaggery or brown sugar, plus extra if wanted (see notes)
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6 tablespoons water
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1 teaspoon Diamond kosher salt, plus extra to style; for desk salt, use half as a lot by quantity
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1/4 teaspoon Kashmiri chile powder (non-obligatory)
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2 tablespoons recent cilantro leaves and tender stems, minced (non-obligatory)
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For the Tamarind Pulp: In a big metallic or glass bowl, cowl tamarind with sizzling water. Soak for a minimum of quarter-hour and as much as 4 hours. Utilizing your arms, press tamarind within the water to separate pulp. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a big bowl. Pour tamarind-water combination by it, pushing and urgent on the pulp with arms or a big spoon till all of the water and pulp has handed by; discard seeds, skins, and fibers. Cowl liquid and pulp and retailer till wanted, as much as 3 days within the fridge.
Critical Eats / Jatin Sharma
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For the Okra: Trim stems of every okra pod, then minimize crosswise into 3/4- to 1-inch items. Maintain a paper towel useful to wipe down your knife if wanted to take away any slime from the okra.
Critical Eats / Jatin Sharma
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Have a splatter display or lid useful. In a big chrome steel skillet, warmth oil over medium-high till simply smoking. Scale back warmth to low and take a look at the oil with one mustard seed. If it pops immediately, the oil is prepared; if not, return warmth to medium-high for 1 extra minute and retest. When oil is prepared, flip off warmth, then instantly add mustard seeds to sizzling oil, cowl with a mesh display or lid, and let seeds pop, shaking the skillet sometimes to forestall them from burning or sticking (it ought to take about 15 seconds for the seeds to pop).
Critical Eats / Jatin Sharma
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Return skillet to low warmth and add turmeric and asafetida, if utilizing, and stir till fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add okra,flip warmth as much as medium, and prepare dinner, stirring consistently, for 1 minute. Scale back warmth to low and add 4 tablespoons ready tamarind pulp, jaggery or brown sugar, and water, stirring nicely to mix. Cowl and prepare dinner, stirring sometimes, till okra is nearly totally tender, 12 to fifteen minutes.
Critical Eats / Jatin Sharma
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Uncover, stir, and add salt and crimson chile powder, if utilizing, and prepare dinner uncovered till most of water has evaporated, okra is tender-crisp, and a wealthy brown sauce coats okra, 2 to three minutes. Season to style with salt and jaggery or sugar, if wanted.
Critical Eats / Jatin Sharma
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Serve sizzling, garnished with minced cilantro, if desired.
Critical Eats / Jatin Sharma
Particular Tools
Massive metallic or glass bowl, fine-mesh strainer, 12-inch skillet, spatter display or lid
Notes
If utilizing jaggery, a pair seconds within the microwave will assist soften it. Then you possibly can chop it identical to chocolate with a bread knife. A rasp grater, comparable to a microplane, works as nicely.
Asafetida will be discovered at most Indian grocers. I like to recommend the powder offered in small jars, quite than massive plastic containers, as a result of the plastic can maintain the aroma. Maintain it tightly shut between makes use of, in any other case, the odor will pervade your kitchen. Whereas it provides a definite taste, you possibly can omit it if unavailable, although it will likely be much less fragrant.
Make-Forward and Storage
The tamarind pulp will be ready as much as 3 days forward and refrigerated in an hermetic container for as much as 3 days.
The dish will be cooked as much as 2 hours earlier than serving.
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