Sweet & Sour Okra curry

Happy Friday everyone!

It has been quite a light week for me as my attending physician is on vacation! I had time to cook, do some painting, update my blog several times, Instagram, go to the gym, watch lots of movies etc. I should also be studying shouldn’t I? 😛

I just finished watching the movie Arrival! I LOVED it! I am into extraterrestrial, SciFi type movies anyway but this blew my mind. It had a very bitter sweet ending and got me teary-eyed.

I also started watching How I Met Your Mother, how have I not watched this until now?? It is hilarious, although Ted’s character annoys me a bit with his dating problems. 😛

Tonight on the menu for dinner is veggie burgers made from kidney beans and a whole bunch of other veggies I have in the fridge (onion, spinach, sweet and hot peppers etc.) I get bored with my meals easily so I try to keep my meals colourful, tasty and different without eating out several times a week. Here are some pics of some of my meals & snacks over the past week or so…

This okra dish is also made at home by Mom dearest. I love the sweet and sour aspect of this dish. Usually made in Kerala and Tamil Nadu (South India) by many vegetarian families! No onion or garlic and very little oil!

Sweet & Sour Okra Curry (vegan, no onion, no garlic)

Ingredients (ignore the lemon juice in the pic)

1 frozen okra bag
3-4 tablespoons shredded coconut
1 tomato chopped small
2 thai green chilli (more if you want it more spicy)
1 tablespoon tamarind paste (I had seeds in mine)
1-2 tablespoons jaggery or sugar
salt to taste
0.5 teaspoon mustard seeds
0.5 teaspoon jeera/cumin seeds
o.25 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
2-3 cups water

Soak tamarind in 2-3 cups warm water for about 5-10 mins. You are going to use this tamarind water as the “sour” part of the gravy. Take out any of the seeds from the tamarind paste and throw seeds away.

Put the tamarind water into a pot turn stove on medium-high. Mix in the frozen okra, jaggery/sugar, turmeric and some salt. Let it boil.

While it is boiling, grind the coconut and green chillis with some water. Add this to the pot. Cut tomato and add to the pot. Continue boiling for a couple more minutes. Taste the mixture and see whether it is the right amount of sweet, salty and spicy. If it’s too sour, add some salt, that should help. If it’s not sweet enough add some more jaggery/sugar. If it’s too thick add some more water.

After you have turned off the stove. Heat the oil in a separate pot, add the mustard seeds. These will pop, once they are done dancing around, add the jeera to the same pot. Jeera is ready when it’s a brown and releases a pleasant aroma. Don’t let it burn as it will be bitter.

Carefully add this to the okra curry as it will splutter.

Enjoy with rice or roti!!