Spicy Stuffed Okra

One of my fondest childhood memories is plucking tender pods of Okra, just when the heads are still slightly rosy and the Okra themselves, a brilliant shade of brilliant shade of green. I warily remember insisting on "helping" to slice the Okra pods and stuffing them with spices ground earlier in the day, while watching old re-runs of "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeanie".

Needless to say Okra was, and has, always been one of my favorite vegetables,  and also the only "green vegetable" I ate without a fuss as a child. Even today, each time my mother wants her first-born to be in good spirits, she makes sure there is some Okra on the Table.

Spicy Stuffed Okra (Bharwa Bhindi)

For the stuffing, I mixed

2 tea spoons  roasted coriander powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

a pinch of turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cumin and fennel seeds, each

2-3 cloves, 2-3 peeled cardamom pods

an inch long piece of cinnamon

2 teaspoons ginger and garlic paste

A few green chillies finely chopped

A handful of ground nuts (optionally cashew nuts can also be used )

and 1 tea spoon salt in a mortar and ground it to a fine paste. A few gritty pieces of the nuts are Okay (that is how they should be), but I make sure that all the spices are perfectly blended and ground.

Meanwhile, approximately 700 grams of Okra is washed well and the heads and pointed ends are discarded. The Okra is sliced length wise and filled with the spicy stuffing before chopping it into bite sized pieces.

To cook the okra, one tablespoon oil is heated in a pan and to it a pinch of asafoetida 1 a few mustard and cumin seeds are added. Once the seeds begin to crackle and splutter, finely chopped onion (one small onion should be sufficient) is added to it and sauteed for one minute. the stuffed okra is then added to the pan and covered and cooked for a few minutes. I do not like stirring my okra too frequently, especially in the beginning because the sticky mucilage tends to spread on agitation. Once done, the okra is not very chewy and easy to cut with a spoon. The aroma is heavenly....

Spicy Stuffed Okra's aroma is now emanating from Lisa's Celebration Of Indian Food and Gayathri's celebration of nostalgic memories in Walk through the memory lane