Bharwan Bhindi or Stuffed Okra (lady’s finger) is a crunchy and delicious North Indian vegetarian dish…
I adore okra and love it cooked anyway. However, my most favorite used to be fried okra combined with yogurt until I tried this bharwan bhindi (in Hindi, bharwan means stuffed and bhindi means okra). In this dish, onion-besan masala is stuffed into the okra and shallow fried till golden brown. The onion masala and the okra gets crunchy, the stuffing along with the fried okra tastes incredible.
Preparation Pictures
Stuffed Okra
Shallow frying stuffed okra
Shallow fried stuffed okra
Bharwan Bhindi or Stuffed Okra
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Thasneen
Recipe type: Appetiser
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 4 People
Ingredients
- Okra or lady's finger- 20
- Oil- ½ cup
- Cumin seeds- 1½ tsp
- Curry leaves- 1 sprig (optional)
For making the stuffing
- Onion, minced- 1 (small sized)
- Gram flour or Besan- ¼ cup
- Ginger, minced- 1 inch slice
- Chili powder- 1½ tsp
- Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
- Coriander powder- 1 tsp
- Cumin powder- ¾ tsp
- Fennel powder- 1 tsp (optional)
- Lemon juice- 2 tbsp
- Salt- to taste
- Cilantro, chopped- 2 tbsp
- Sesame seeds, crushed- 2 tbsp
- Water- 2 tbsp
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for making the stuffing. Add 1 to 2 tbsp of water to make the stuffing stick to the each other, it should be a thick mixture.
- Using a sharp knife, make vertical slits on the okra.
- Stuff the slit with the onion-besan stuffing.
- Place a non-stick pan over medium heat, add oil.
- Add cumin seed and curry leaves, saute for a few seconds.
- Place the stuffed okra onto the oil and shallow fry it.
- After the bottom side has turned light brown, gently flip it over to the other side and shallow fry the other side as well.
- Shallow fry till the okra has turned golden brown.
- Transfer the stuffed okra to a plate lined with paper towel to absorb excess oil.
- Enjoy when the fried stuffed okra is still warm and crunchy.
- You could even serve the fried stuffed okra with yogurt, dip them in yogurt and enjoy.
