Okra With Potatoes

Over at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), this month's Monthly Featured Chef  is Madhur Jaffrey, and I've made another one of her recipes, from her cookbook "World Vegetarian", one of the many cookbooks that I bought at a book sale a year ago. 

I've harvested some okras from my garden pot, and turn to "World Vegetarian" for recipes using them. There are six okra recipes in the book, and decided to make Okra with Potatoes, as I have all the ingredients. 

The flower of the okra.

 Who would have known that by looking at an uninteresting plain okra pod, it was once a lovely flower? 

A Gujarati specialty, this dish may be served with any Indian meal, rice or bread. I pretty much followed the recipe without any changes. An easy dish to cook, though the potatoes needed to be prepared earlier, boiled, peeled and diced, before you start to cook this dish. It is a very nice vegetarian dish, but a little sour from the lemon juice. So the next time, I would use a small amount of lemon juice to taste, or omit it altogether. The okra is cooked till tender which takes about 10 minutes. Young and tender okra works best for this dish. I like the taste of the spices with the okra and potatoes, a nice dish, and goes great with white fluffy rice.

Okra With Potatoes

Serves 4 to 6

(adapted from "World Vegetarian", Madhur Jaffrey)

4 medium garlic cloves, peeled

1 (1-inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
3 tablespoons peanut or canola oil
1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
14 ounces fresh okra, trimmed at the ends and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
9 to 10 ounces waxy red potatoes, boiled, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium tomatoes (1/2 pound), cut into 1-inch dice
1 teaspoon sugar
1-1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Put the garlic, ginger, and 4 tablespoons of water into a blender and blend to a puree. Empty into a small bowl. Add the cayenne, ground cumin, ground coriander, and turmeric and mix well.
Put the oil in a 9-inch frying pan and set over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the cumin and mustard seeds. As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop, a matter of seconds, turn the heat down to medium-low and add the spice paste. Stir and fry for 30 seconds. Add the okra, potatoes, tomatoes, sugar, lemon juice, salt, and 1/2 cup of water. Stir well and bring to a gentle simmer. Turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook, very gently for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the okra is tender. Stir. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.

I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week

Monthly Featured Chef : Madhur Jaffrey