LADY’S FINGER or OKRA PULUSU (Andhra style Bhindi Stir fry) – tender and fresh lady’s finger or bhindi cooked in a tangy, spicy tamarind and tomato gravy; a delicious side dish with any meal.
I love cooking (and eating!) and this has always made me explore many cuisines besides my own Konkani cuisine. Being an Indian, as others, I love spicy foods and Andhra cuisine (from the state of Andhra Pradesh in India) has always fascinated and drawn me towards it as it is mainly a spice infused cuisine with chilies and pepper in most dishes!
As part of this month’s challenge in our Face Book gourmet group “A to Z Challenge”, where we choose a letter of the alphabet every month to make and this month's letter being “L”, my contribution is Lady’s Finger Pulusu or Bhindi/Okra Andhra style curry.
Do check out my last month’s contribution to the letter “K” to the group – Kale Parathas and click the link below to find out what dishes my fellow bloggers have conjured up in their kitchen this month!
Now, let’s get to the dish shall we?
WHAT IS “PULUSU”?
"Pulusu" is a telugu word (the language spoken in Andhra Pradesh) which means "sour curry" and tamarind is the main ingredient which lends the sour element in any pulusu.
If you explore that cuisine, you will find a variation of dishes or pulusus using lentils, veggies, meat, fish, chicken etc.
HOW DO YOU MAKE LADY’S FINGER/OKRA PULUSU?
Everyone is I hope familiar with the vegetable lady’s finger or okra as we call it (or ‘bhindi’ or “bendakayi”). It is a not so popular veggie as it has a slimy texture to it. But lo and behold, like we have heard from our grandmothers and mothers, tamarind is one ingredient which can not only add a sour and tangy element to this dish but also prevents the vegetable from getting slimy and icky which most of us do not like!
My cuisine (Konkani cuisine) too has a dish with the combination of okra and tamarind – Bhindi Huli where huli means sour! Do check it out!
Now, to the dish; just wash and cut lady’s finger and cook in a tamarind based gravy with some simple spices like coriander and chili powder along with onions and tomatoes.
Jaggery can be added if you like it a tad sweet (sweet and sour, get it?) but our family, especially my husband abhors sweet curries; hence no jaggery in mine!
SERVING SUGGESTIONS:
Like any curry, this Andhra okra pulusu can be served as a side dish with rice and dal or to dunk flat breads like rotis, parathas or puris in this spicy, lip smacking and delicious Lady’s Finger Pulusu or Bhindi Pulusu!
So, the next time you get hold of some fresh and tender okra/lady’s fingers, do give this spicy curry a try and if you are a fan of okra, then yippee!; you can try some of these other dishes too, already on my blog:
Or ,if you are into more Andhra cuisine, then do try:
Andhra Style Mirchi Pakoras; spicy and mouthwatering chili fritters!
Or even a rice dish using the quintessential Andhra leafy vegetable Gongura or Sorrel leaves:
Now, let us check out how I made Lady's Finger Pulusu:
LADY’S FINGER or OKRA PULUSU (Andhra style Bhindi Stir fry) – tender and fresh lady’s finger or bhindi cooked in a tangy, spicy tamarind and tomato gravy; a perfect side dish with any meal.
Ingredients
- 2 cups lady’s finger/bhindi/okra
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 medium tomato, finely chopped
- 1 tsp mustard
- 5 to 6 methi seeds/dry fenugreek seeds
- Few curry leaves
- 1 tsp kashmiri chlli powder
- ½ tsp haldi
- 2 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp tamarind paste (or small marble sized fresh tamarind)
- Salt to taste
- Freshly chopped cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- If using fresh tamarind, soak in ¼ cup hot water for at least 15 minutes and then squeeze the tamarind to get tamarind juice. Discard the pulp.
- Wash lady fingers/bhindi/okra in plenty of water, drain and let dry until most of the moisture is gone.
- Chop okra into 1-inch pieces and set aside.
- Chop tomatoes and onions into small pieces.
- Heat oil in a large kadai or deep saucepan and once hot, add mustard seeds. As soon as the seeds pop and crackle, add methi seeds and curry leaves and sauté for a few seconds to aromatize the oil.
- Tip in the chopped onions and sauté on medium heat until they are slightly soft.
- Add chopped tomatoes, mix well and cook again until they turn a bit soft.
- Stir in dry spice powders; give it a good stir on fry on medium heat for a minute.
- At this stage, add the chopped lady’s fingers and salt to taste; mix well.
- Pour in the tamarind water (if using fresh tamarind) or tamarind paste and required water needed (not too much!) to cook the vegetable.
- Mix well and cook on medium heat until the vegetable is cooked well and flavors have blended to form a thick and tasty curry!
- Adjust the amount of tamarind and spices according to personal taste.
- Remove from heat and serve hot with rice and dal or even as a side dish with chapattis, rotis, puris etc.!
STEP-WISE INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE LADY'S FINGER/OKRA/BHINDI PULUSU:
If using fresh tamarind, soak in ¼ cup hot water for at least 15 minutes and then squeeze the tamarind to get tamarind juice. Discard the pulp.
Wash lady fingers/bhindi/okra in plenty of water, drain and let dry until most of the moisture is gone.
Chop okra into 1-inch pieces and set aside.
Chop tomatoes and onions into small pieces.
TO MAKE BHINDI/OKRA/LADY’S FINGER PULUSU:
Heat oil in a large kadai or deep saucepan and once hot, add mustard seeds. As soon as the seeds pop and crackle, add methi seeds and curry leaves and sauté for a few seconds to aromatize the oil.
Tip in the chopped onions and saute on medium heat until they are slightly soft.
Add chopped tomatoes, mix well and cook again until they turn a bit soft.
Stir in dry spice powders; give it a good stir on fry on medium heat for a minute.
At this stage, add the chopped lady’s fingers and salt to taste; mix well.
Pour in the tamarind water (if using fresh tamarind) or tamarind paste and required water needed (not too much!) to cook the vegetable.
Mix well and cook on medium heat until the vegetable is cooked well and flavors have blended to form a thick and tasty curry!
Adjust the amount of tamarind and spices according to personal taste.
Remove from heat and serve hot with rice and dal or even as a side dish with chapattis, rotis, puris etc.!
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we always make puli kuzhambu in the same way using okra. so flavorful, spicy and tangy gravy. Would love to have it with hot rice with little ghee
So happy to see such clear step by step images to make this pulusu. that sourness from the tamarind I am sure will go just perfect with the ldys inger and the gravy just perfect on steaming hot rice.
Love this Andhra Style Bhindi Pulusu Vanitha di !!
we odias also use slight tangy touch to bhindi dishes specially curry kind of 🙂 This looks super tempting for me.
This is such a favourite with my father. His mom made it the best he tells me and says Amma came close. Comfort food at its best.
My mom makes bhindi pulusu almost same way but add little jaggery. Love the way you've have explained in detail. Somehow I totally forgot to about pulusu and It's been quite long since I made this curry. After reading through your lovely post I'm so tempted to make it soon.
This tangy style of okra curry is totally new to me. Just need phulkas to finish up this bowl. Love this simple and so flavourful curry.
Loved the recipe and both of us at home being lady finger fans, would love mopping this curry with some phulkas for lunch. I would add some jaggery to my version, like you have suggested as I love the slight sweet taste to the curries (Palakkad taste buds to blame). We make a similar recipe without the onions as side dish, similar to gothsu for our breakfast recipes as well.
Wow thats different for me. Bhindi with tamarind sounds interesting. Must try out this lip smacking pulusu recipe.
Ladyfingers with tamarind sounds great. I can imagine the tangy spicy taste. We make bhindi in different ways but your recipe is completely different. I would love to have this mouthwatering bhindi curry with roti or paratha.
This is a very different way of making Bhindi for me.. but loving the flavors here.. would love to try it someday. looks so inviting.
This tangy spicy okra pulusu is a flavorful treat with some hot phulkas or steamed rice. Love such simple comforting meals.
Love the look and sound of this tangy, flavourful Okra Pulusu! Very inviting! It would be a delight to dunk some parathas or pooris in this Pulusu, straight off the gas. 🙂
I am coming with a few chapathis to mop up that complete bowl of pulusu... Uff, looks absolutely tempting! Delicious...
Loved this tangy lady'sfinger pulusu, Vanitha... We make the similar one as a side dish for Ven Pongal. Will try yours.
Love this tangy pulusu with plain rice and fried pappadams
Bhindi pulusu looks grt. On the basis of sourness its like our odia recipe bhindi besara but apart from that the masalas and colours both are different.