Microwave Bhindi / Okra Recipe – Chicky Kadambari
June 15, 2012Most of my regular blog readers are well aware of the fact that I like to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen! So I’m constantly on the lookout for recipes that can be made with the least amount of ‘time input’. I recently discovered that using a microwave oven can considerably cut down the cooking time for our day-to-day vegetable dishes.
The above is a picture of ‘bhindi‘ (okra / lady’s fingers / gumbo) that I cooked in my microwave. Well okay… not ALL the cooking was done in the microwave. I don’t like to use oil inside the micro oven because I’m pretty sure that cleaning all that grease from inside it will be a very tedious process. So the dish was made partly in microwave and partly using conventional gas cooking. Here’s how I made it…
INGREDIENTS:
250 grams ‘bhindi‘ chopped in pieces (serves 2)
1 large onion chopped in big pieces
1 tbsp mustard oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp red chillie powder
METHOD:
Put the chopped ‘bhindi‘ in a micro-proof container with a lid, and micro on P100 for 4 minutes.
Alongside, heat the mustard oil in a fry pan (on traditional gas burner), add the cumin seeds, let them brown and then add the chopped onions and saute till golden pink.
Take the cooked ‘bhindi‘ out from the microwave and add to the fry pan. This is what it looks like at this stage.
Add salt and turmeric powder, mix well, cover and let it cook on low flame for a minute.
Remove cover, add the red chillie powder and coriander powder, and stir fry on high heat till it gets a slightly roasted appearance.
Serve hot.
With traditional gas cooking, it takes about 12-15 minutes to make this recipe. The ‘bhindi‘ loses its fresh green color and there is always the risk of it becoming too soggy, which I totally hate. But with microwave cooking, the cooking time is cut to about less than 6 minutes, and the dish looks green and tastes fresh & crispy!
About the author:
Chicky Kadambari, a.k.a. Kaddu, a self-proclaimed member of the A.F.A.E.A. (Alien Federation Aiding Earth’s Ascension), is the author of the blog – ‘miss_teerious‘. She endears herself to her readers with her quick wit and simple logic, in her lucid, straight-forward write-ups, peppered with humorous anecdotes from her own life. “Witty. Humorous. Thought provoking. Oozing positivity. A little sweet & a little spicy.” That is her own *signature note*. When she’s not blogging, she’s either busy being a homemaker, or doing some freelance writing & web-designing.
