Besanwali Bhindi / Okra cooked with gram flour

I have been intending to make some posts on the bhindi / lady finger / okra, for a while now.
But either I run short of time or the dish, even if it turns out to be tasty, does not look worthy of a photograph.
I do click anyway but those photos languish in the pending folder and then get poofed into oblivion after a while.


But when I made this recipe of the bhindi, I knew I had so share it; good photograph or no.
The reason I fell in love wit this dish was due to that combination of the saunf / fennel seeds, gur / jaggery and hing / asafoetida.
I had learnt to make a Gawarfali ki sabzi  with this combination long back and have often used it for a few other vegetables too.
Nothing worked as well as it did with the okra.
I was tempted to add some crushed peanuts as well .... since the original recipe had it, but did not as I was not sure how the peanuts would go with the okra.

Nonetheless, the dish is one of my most loved Okra dishes.
And has no slime at all in it.
While I have kept the okra long, with just a slit in the middle, you can chop it up too.
Only it tends to dry up faster when chopped, which in turn renders the besan dry too. On the other hand, the lengthwise pieces hold more moisture and helps the besan to hold on to it.

Need :

Okra / Bhindi - ¼ kilo, cleaned, washed, dried and cut into half lengthwise ... only halfway
Gram flour / Besan - 2 tbsp
Fennel seeds / Saunf - ½ tsp
Jaggery / Gur - 1 tbsp, powdered
Coriander / Dhania powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric / Haldi powder - 1 tsp
Red chilli / Mirchi powder - 1 tsp
Asafoetida / Hing - a pinch
Mustard oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste

How to :

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed kadahi / wok.

Add the saunf and the hing.

Let in the bhindi and stir it well.

Add haldi + salt.

Cover and cook till bhindi is done.

Remove cover and stir it well, spreading it around so that any moisture left slowly dries up.

Add the dhania powder + gur + mirchi powder + besan.

Mix well and cover for a while for the besan to cook.

Remove cover and turn and toss so that everything mixes well.

Make  sure the besan does not burn .... if it dries up too much, give a sprinkle of water for extra moisture.

Remove from heat and serve hot.

This goes best with hot rotis.
But it is great on the side with plain rice and dal too.

Enjoy!!