Alu Bhindi and Manisha ni Kadhi!

First of all, I'm really sorry I haven't come around peeking into your fantastic blogs. Things have been hectic at my end. My sis is visiting me and each day is crazier than the one before, I have tons of guests for the holiday weekend, college apps that are just lying around, waiting to be finished, laundry to be done and dishes to be thrown into the dishwasher. Anyway, A and I are having a blast with my sis because we finally found a person who has come to our place JUST to eat. And that's all she does. I make a lot of fun about that, but I'm glad that she eats every 20 mins :) Helps me exercise my cooking skills and get through my bookmarks. Coming to bookmarks, our old computer crashed and with that, went the bookmarks as well. Sigh! I can always come up with a story and an excuse :D

Last night, we had some of my sister's friends over and a friend of mine stayed over for the night since she was leaving for home from Atlanta. It was a blast with some sinfully rich Biryani and Salan and Gulab Jamoons. I realized yesterday how demanding I was, as a teenager. I moved out to Hyderabad to study and every time I came home, I'd ask my mom to make me and my hostel mates (all 30 of them) GJs (they seem so cooler this way!) So, magically, the day I was leaving, there'd be 2 huge Horlicks bottles full of GJs. I never asked her when she made them, how she made them and why she never said no. Yesterday, while making GJs with my sis, I blew my fuse more than once and almost gave up at every step. The amount of sugar and oil that goes into this delicacy has blown off all the work in the gym for the last 2 months. But it wasn't all bad (though my GJs kinda sucked!) We had a blast with the food, friends, games and talking. I remembered this was exactly how it was back in college. Everyone brought food from home, talk about boys, girls, hot professors and eat through the night. No one worried about how eating Namkeen at 3 AM was probably the worst thing to do to your waistline. Or, how we finished 2 big bottles of GJs in 2 days flat. That reminded me of this draft lying around, begging me to post it :)

Apart from Biryani and Salan which are a Hyderabadi staple, Alu Bhindi holds fond memories of many a night in the Hostel Mess/Dining Hall. We were served Biryani every weekend, while Alu Bhindi made its apperance once a week for dinner. Our Mess wasn't the best. We had political and other issues to battle with, apart from some really bad food. But I'm sure all my batch mates would agree that nothing, not even our mothers' Alu Bhindi could meet our expectations. Our Hostel Mess Cook made the BEST Alu Bhindi ever. Hot, crunchy, greasy and served in a smaller quantity than other sabzis(curries), this was a favorite. We went early during the dinner hour, just so the Alu Bhindi doesn't get over! I don't make it often. A and I eat Indian food once or twice a week and it does not necessarily have Alu/Potato. (Its squash once a week in some sorta cuisine. eww. Just saying.) However, the first time I made this, I cried. Not because it was good. It cannot be. But because of the number of times I served this to others (I was a Mess Secretary!) and prayed to God that there should be some left for me. This, apparently, is the Andhra version of a North Indian sabzi. It contained peanuts. Atleast, that is what our Malayalee cook told me. Here is the recipe, with approximate measurements.

Ingredients

1-1.5 lb Ladies Finger/Okra/Bhindi

A couple of potatoes ( I added more, since I had less Okra)

Half an onion, sliced/chopped

A handul of roasted peanuts - chopped or whole

Cayenne Pepper - lots :D

Salt

4-5 tbsp Oil

1. Chop the potato into cubes/slices and slit the Okra lengthwise and each one into half. Meaning, I cut it criss-cross ( it looks pretty, fries better!) and each long Okra is cut into two pieces and then slit lengthwise into two pieces.

2. Semi-cook the potatoes in the Microwave oven. I'm not giving the time here because it is different. It should be fork tender, but not falling apart. It should hold its own.

2. Heat 2-3 tbsp of oil, add jeera and after it splutters, throw in the onion. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the Okra. Leave it for a good 2-3 mins. Then, stir and make sure the other side is touching the hot pan. I usually make this in a really hot cast iron pan and it is pretty quick. Add salt.

3. Strain the potatoes of all water and throw it in with the okra. Make sure there is space for every single piece of vegetable in the pan. Add about 1 tbsp oil over the potatoes and season with salt and cayenne pepper.

4. When this is almost done, add in the roasted peanuts, stir every 2-3 mins. Make sure you don't keep stirring them. Otherwise, they won't get brown and crisp. Let it be for some time.

5. Ta-da! This tastes great with Rotis or Yogurt/Curd Rice or just like that ;) If I don't finish it off the pan, then maybe A would realize that too!

Every time I make this particular curry, I make something else. Dal, another sabzi or have pickle ready. Because, sometimes, I just eat it off the pan waiting for A to come home for dinner. Its that good. And greasy. And greasy is always good. At our Hostel Mess, they deep-fried the Okra. But since I can't get myself to do that, I shall stick to sauteeing. This time around, I made Manisha's Gujarati Kadhi (2 different links here!). I've made this several times now and love it. I'm not a huge fan of sweetened curries for entrees or even sweetened yogurt based sweets (err.. ya!) The story moved me. Even before I food-blogged, I read this recipe on Anita's blog. Okay, I read the story. I didn't care about the recipe. This was when I worked and ate Dal-Chaawal everyday for dinner! I got to reading somehow about an April Fools' Joke and followed it around to Anita and Manisha's blogs. My faves since then. I never commented or anything of that sort, until I met Manisha on Twitter. Needless to say, I'm super active on FB and Twitter. Anyway, Manisha was telling someone about this Kadhi (on Anita's blog, where she'd posted it, instead of Anita) Long story. And I'm too impatient to type right now. Ever since I got married to this guy who studied in Gujarat and lived there and loved Gujju food, I've been looking for this recipe. On Manisha's blog. This, she calls it Vimlaben ni Kadhi. Or hot yogurt soup (not :D) I searched for Auntyji ki Kadhi and what not, but never found it. All because it was on Anita's blog. (yes, you can kill me for this later)

FINALLY, I found that piece of information through Twitter and I made this lovingly for A when he fell sick. Since he loved it, I made it again with Alu Bhindi and it was just perfect. The recipe is so perfect that even a klutzy cook like me can make errors with this, and still be successful with this :D Thanks Manisha. And Anita, of course ;)

Okay, I should stop no? Or, should I? I should. Okay, ta ta bye. Thank you.

P.S.- Since I always have to add something after I say bye - how the hell does one use Flickr? it blogs every time I add a pic? And no, don't tell me copy paste the code until you send me the code every time I post. Maybe, that is an incentive to post everyday. ya? Okay, apart from saying this is a great recipe ;), make sure to leave tips about Flickr ok? Ok.