Fried okra in curds with delicious seasoning (Benda Gojju)

Okra are shallow fried and are added to curds that's been beautifully seasoned. Flavourful seasoning, chopped fresh coriander add bags of flavour to this gojju and makes it absolutely scrumptious. 

An okra dish that is perfect for one of those days when you're bored of all spicy curries and need something soothing and cooling. It's refreshing and is definitely a great dish for Indian summers. 

Serve this okra dish with rice and I'm sure your family will absolutely love it.  Serve it as a side dish for lunch, dinner or serve it as an accompaniment with rice instead of a curry.

This delicious lady's finger dish is called as benda gojju in Konkani, bendekayi gojju in Kannada. Here goes the recipe for it..

Ingredients:

20 lady's finger
4 green chillies
1 cup curds
2 dried red chillies
2 leaflets of curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon of urad dal (optional)
2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh coriander (optional)
2 tablespoons of grated coconut (optional)
6 tablespoons of oil
1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
Salt to taste

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 35 minutes

Preparation Method:

1. Wash all the lady's finger well and pat them dry using a cloth or paper towel. Drying lady's finger is important as they otherwise get slimy once you chop them and start frying them.

2. Chop off the edges of okra and finely chop them into roundels. You can also chop each okra vertically first and then chop them horizontally to get small pieces. The choice is yours.

3. Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in a skillet, add in slit green chillies, chopped okra and fry them on medium flame until okra's cooked and starts to brown. Don't close the skillet with a lid as all the water vapour will make okras go slimy.

4. Once okra is well fried and is almost done (you know it by the change in colour from green to dark green to okra starting to brown), add in salt, mix well and turn off the heat. 

5. Add salt only in the end, as salt makes lady's finger give out water and makes them slimy.

Fried okra should look like this: 

Do not let it brown completely, it'll taste burnt. We want well fried okra. Tiny pieces may start to brown by the time they're well fried.

6. If okra gets slimy while frying them, add a teaspoon of dry mango powder or tamarind water to get rid of the slime. Please don't add slimy okra to curds later on, it makes this dish unpleasant to eat.

7. Allow fried okra to cool down completely.

8. Meanwhile add curds into a mixing bowl, add in freshly grated coconut, chopped fresh coriander and mix well.

9. Season the curds: Heat oil in a tempering pan, add in mustard seeds. When they begin to splutter, add in urad dal, red chilli broken into pieces and curry leaves. Fry them until the urad dal starts to brown. Add this seasoning to the curds and mix well.

10. Keep the seasoned curds aside until serving time. By then the taste and flavour of the seasoning, taste of chopped fresh coriander gets infused into the curds, which make this gojju delectable.

11. Just before serving, add in cooled, fried okra to the seasoned curds and mix well. This keeps fried okra crispy while you eat them. Otherwise they tend to get soggy with time if are left in curds for long. If you let fried okra stand in curds for long, they also tend to absorb in curds and makes the dish thick and dry in consistency. So, do empty the gojju within an hour of mixing in okra.

12. Add about 1/2 cup of water to the gojju if your curds is too thick and mix well. The consistency of this gojju should be semi-thick and not too thick or watery. 

Leave the gojju thick without adding water if you are serving it as a side dish. If you are serving it with rice then it needs to be semi-thick in consistency.

13. Check and adjust salt. 

Serving suggestions:

1. Serve this lady's finger gojju with rice as an accompaniment.

2. Serve this okra gojju as a side dish for lunch, dinner. It goes well along with curd rice.

Side Note:

1. You can add finely chopped green chillies or smashed green chillies directly to the curds. Or add slit or finely chopped green chillies to the seasoning along with dried red chillies, fry them and add them to curds for extra spice. 

2. Also, adjust the amount of curds you use in accordance with the amount of fried okra you have in the end.

3. Okra tends to reduce in quantity considerably on frying. So, use more lady's finger if you love to eat them and need lots of them in your dish.

Find more Konkani cuisine side dishes here. 

Tags: Vegetarian, lunch, side dish, dinner, easy to prepare, okra, ladys finger, Konkani recipe, Konkani dish, Konkani cuisine, Udupi cuisine, Mangalore food, Konkani food, yoghurt/curds, cooling, bachelor recipe, bendekayi gojju