Bhindi (Okra) Masala

A vegetarian Indian dish made with okra and spices.  A delicious, healthy, and filling meal.

(Re-post of original from 1/11/13. Edited for grammar, updated pictures, tweeables, pinnable image, and like posts.  Had 96 views)

Okra.  It's one of those vegetables I only knew one thing to do with and that is batter and fry.  I grew up in North Carolina and we love our fried okra.  Every spring my dad planted a  garden in our yard and okra was one of the usual vegetables.  By summer, we would have so much okra, but I don't remember having it any other way than fried.  I'm not complaining I love fried okra it's one of those foods I look forward to whenever I go home.

There's more to #okra than frying: Bhindi (Okra) Masala #Indianfood [Tweet this]

Not long after moving to Honolulu and finding Chinatown, I found a market there that had okra.  I was excited and curious.  Fried okra isn't a common food here so how is it used?  It took me some Googling to find an Indian recipe site that had many dishes with okra as the main ingredient.  I like Indian food and I like okra so what could go wrong?  Once I tried Bhindi Masala I fell in love and it's much healthier than deep fat frying okra.  This is a recipe I make frequently.  If you like okra I urge you to try this recipe.

Like Okra? Try this #Vegetarian #Indianrecipe: Bhindi Masala  [Tweet this]

Bhindi Masala

Cook time:  20 minutes or fewer
Servings:  3-4

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp ghee, or oil of choice
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala powder
1/8 tsp ghost chili masala, or hot chilli powder of you choice (if you can handle more heat by all means add more)
1 pound okra, chopped (about 3 cups)
3 dashes Worcestershire sauce, or juice of 1/2 a lime
Salt to taste

Heat ghee (clarified butter) in large frying pan (I think ghee adds better flavor, but it has 9g saturated fat per tablespoon and it's not vegan so you can use any oil that withstands high heat instead).

Add cumin seeds and stir cooking until they start to sputter.  Then, add the ginger and garlic.  Stir until just fragrant (it won't take long) and add the onions.

Mix the onions around for a minute or two until they soften.  Add the spices and let cook for a little while until fragrant then add the okra and salt.

Stir and let cook until the okra softens, add Worcestershire sauce (or lime juice) and keep stirring.  I add about 1/2 cup of water to deglaze the pan and make a bit of sauce then turn off the heat (the hot pan will evaporate most of the water, but it make things a little less dry as well as helps cool the pan).

Serve immediately over rice garnished with cilantro and with naan on the side.  Makes 3-4 servings.

Enjoy.

For more vegetarian Indian recipes check out:

Arhar Dal           -

Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry

Patta Gobhi Mattar (Cabbage and Peas)

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Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots

Tender orange carrots cooked in a butter, brown sugar, and dill sauce.  A colorful and flavorful vegetable side dish.

I was looking for a new winter vegetable side dish when my husband remembered his mom making this when he was younger.  He didn't know the exact recipe so I looked it up online and made a few adjustments.  I first tried it at Christmas with our Swedish Meatballs and fell in love.  Then I had to make it again to go with other winter meals like Lamb & Guinness Shepherds Pie and Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish.  This is a wonderful warm vegetable side and I love the orange color.  It's like sunshine on a plate.

It's like sunshine on a plate [Tweet this]

Everyone knows carrots are good for eyes, but they are also delicious.  Carrots have a natural sweetness that can be enhanced with the addition of any type of sweetener and this recipe does just that. The carrots are tossed in butter, brown sugar, and dried dill then baked until tender.  The sugar brings out the sweetness, but it's not too sweet.  This is a great way to cook carrots that will brighten up any plate.  You can use sliced carrots or even baby carrots for a simple and quick vegetable side that tastes and looks great.

Everyone knows carrots are good for eyes but they are also delicious. [Tweet this]

Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots

Ingredients:

1 pound carrots (either sliced or baby carrots)
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
a few shakes of dried dill

Preheat oven to 350F

In a large bowl, melt the butter in the microwave and then mix in the brown sugar.

Toss the carrots (at room temperature--if they are cold just out of the fridge the melted butter will solidify again and be more difficult to coat the carrots) with the butter mixture until all the carrots are coated.

Sprinkle with some dill and toss more adding more dill as needed until all the carrots are coated with some dill.

Pour everything into a covered baking dish, cover, and bake at 350F for 30 minutes-1 hour until tender.  Sliced carrots take less time than baby carrots (it all depends on the size of the carrot).

Makes 4-6 servings.

Enjoy.

Other recipes mentioned in this post:

Swedish Meatballs       -----

Lamb & Guinness Shepherds Pie

Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish

For more carrot side dish recipes check out:

Moroccan Raw Carrot Salad

Maple Glazed Roasted Carrots

Simple Carrot and Cucumber Salad

Linked to:  2 cup, Best of Blogosphere, Treasure Box, Teach Me, LouLouGirls, Full Plate, Freedom,  Food Friends Fri Pretty Pintastic, Best of the Weekend, Show Off

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Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish

A delicious and simple hotdish of chicken and wild rice flavored with cream of mushroom soup.

Chase off the last of winter's chill with a hotdish.  This is a recipe my husband remembers his Mom making when he was younger.  We didn't have her recipe so we put this together as best as we could with his memories and my cooking experience (with some googling).

Chase off the last of winter's chill with hotdish. [Tweet this]

For this hotdish, I used all wild rice.  Some people use a wild rice mix with white or brown rice, but I wanted all wild rice.  I still had plenty of wild rice from my husband's last trip to Minnesota so that's what I used.  My husband found a family sized package of boneless skinless chicken thighs on sale so that's also what we used.  You could easily use chicken breast or a whole split chicken with or without skin and/or bones.  To add a little color but still keep this recipe simple I added some frozen broccoli. Then, of course, to make this a hotdish it needed cream of mushroom soup.

I see why hotdishes are so popular.  Hotdishes are hardy, simple, and taste amazing. This hotdish was exactly that.  It also made a big 9x13 pan full so it's plenty to feed a large family or just 2 people all week.

Hotdishes are hardy, simple, and taste amazing. [Tweet this]

Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish

Ingredients:

2 cups dry wild rice, cooked
1 shallot, minced (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
2 10.5 oz cans cream of mushroom soup
2 10.5 oz cans full of milk
1 1 pound bag of frozen broccoli
12 chicken thighs

Preheat oven to 350F

Cook the wild rice in water or chicken broth until it's tender (I did this the night before).

Saute the shallot and garlic in a little butter or oil until tender and fragrant (if using).  Or you could also just use some garlic powder and onion powder.

In a large bowl mix the wild rice, shallot, garlic, soup, and milk until thoroughly combined.  Set aside.

Season the chicken thighs all over with salt and pepper and lightly sear on both sides in a frying pan or griddle. (This step may not be necessary but I didn't want to risk the chicken not cooking properly.  The whole hotdish bakes for an hour and gets very hot and bubbly so this may be an unnecessary step...use your judgment)

Pour the rice mixture into a 9x13 baking dish and smooth out. Top with the broccoli and lastly the chicken.

Bake at 350F for about 1 hour until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and the soup mixture is bubbly and thickened.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.  Serve with side of your choice I served it with Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots (I'll post this recipe soon).

Enjoy.

For more hotdishes and casseroles check out:

Tater Tot Hotdish ---------------------

Unstuffed Pepper      Casserole      ------------------

Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole

Spinach Pasta            Bake        ------------------

For more wild rice recipes check out:

Wild Rice Cherry Pecan Salad

Spiced Eggplant and Mushrooms

Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

Linked to:  Pretty Pintastic, Show Off, Best of the Weekend, Treasure Box, Best of Blogosphere, 2 Cup, LouLouGirls, Teach Me, Full Plate, Freedom, Food Friends Fri

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Recipe Remake: Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

A remake of a tried and true recipe of Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry.

This is another great left over recipe.  It uses left over steak.  Now if you are like my husband you probably don't ever have left over steak.  Sometimes when he is really hungry he even eats my leftovers.  But on occasion I have about half a steak left over.  This, when sliced up, usually is about 1 cup.  With plenty of broccoli, onions,  and rice it makes a great new dinner for two.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 Tbsp ginger, minced
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cups broccoli floretts
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
splash chili oil
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2-1 cup sliced leftover steak
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds, optional
green onions, sliced

Make the sauce by stirring together oyster sauce, soy, chili oil and sugar.  Add the steak to the sauce mixing to coat well and set aside.

Meanwhile heat a large saute pan or wok on medium high heat.  Add 1 Tbsp oil and then the ginger and garlic.  Stir fry briefly until fragrant and then add the onion.  Stir fry for about 30 seconds until just soft and then add the broccoli.

Stir fry the broccoli for a minute or two and then add the water and allow the broccoli to steam until bright green and tender and most of the water evaporates (you may need more water if it evaporates before the broccoli is tender to your liking).

Lastly add the steak and sauce stirring until mixed well and heated through.  Turn off the heat and toss in the sesame seeds as a garnish (this time I did not add sesame seeds, it is great either way).  

Serve over rice and garnish with green onion slices.  Makes 2 servings. 

 Enjoy.

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Meatball Sub

Way better than subway.  This Meatball Sub is the third meal made from my Slow Cooker Meatballs in a Whole Wheat Italian roll smothered in cheese.

I really love meatballs.  They are so versatile.  I am usually not a fan of eating leftovers, but when I'm just cooking for myself it's much easier.  The main reason I made the Slow Cooker Meatballs was that I wouldn't mind eating them for a week.  Part of their attraction is that I can do so many different things with them to make them just a little different.

I thought about making a Meatball Sub even before the meatballs were cooked. To make sure my meatball sub was perfect I made home made rolls for it.  The most important thing in making a good sandwich is good bread.  Of course making your own is not a must, but I urge you to use a good hoagie roll. I will post my Whole Wheat Italian Bread recipe soon.

Ingredients:
*For one sandwich

Roll
3-4 meatballs and sauce
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
1/4-1/2 cup mozzarella

Split open a roll and tear out a shallow trench from the center (to make a depression for the meatballs so they don't fall out.  You can save the bread scraps for bread crumbs--I just ate them because I was using a delicious fresh homemade bread and couldn't resist.).  Line the depression with 3-4 meatballs and pour some sauce over.  Sprinkle on the parmesan and then the mozzarella.  With the sandwich laying flat, broil in the oven until the cheese melts and the meatballs are heated  (I did this on a low rack far from the top heating element it took longer to melt the cheese but it assured that the meatballs were heated through before browning--about 15 minutes). Enjoy

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Meatball Pizza

Round two of my meatball extravaganza (I know I get a little weird when I spend a lot of time alone). 

Anyway, I used my Slow Cooker Meatballs to top a thin crust pizza.  It was delicious.  I thought about adding onions and peppers to the pizza but then I changed my mind and just used meatballs.  I think that was the right choice.  It was a simple way to make a different meal out of basic meatballs.

I used a homemade pizza dough that I had in my freezer.  I just had to thaw it overnight in the fridge and it was ready to go.

Ingredients:

Pizza dough (enough for an individual/small sized thin crust pizza)
4 meatballs, cut in half
3 tbsp meatball sauce
Parmesan
mozzarella
red pepper flakes

Preheat the oven and pizza stone (on bottom rack) to 500F.

Take the dough from the refrigerator about 2 hours before cooking to take the chill off (or follow the directions of your pizza dough).  Press and stretch the dough until you have about a 9 inch round that is about 1/8th of an inch thick/thin (once I have the dough rolled out I put it on a sheet of parchment paper to make transferring easier).  Spread the dough with the sauce and then add the meatball halves (cut side down so they don't roll around).  Sprinkle on a small hand full of parmesan cheese then top with mozzarella (I used about 1/2 cup use as much or little as you like).  Finally, shake on some red pepper flakes.

Transfer the pizza to a rimless baking sheet (Trim the parchment to the edge of the pizza, any overhang will burn at such a high temperature).  Slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone and bake for about 10-15 minutes until the cheese melts and the edges are browned and crusty.

 Enjoy.

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Slow Cooker Meatballs

Tender meatballs in tomato sauce cooked in a slow cooker.

When my husband is away I don't like to cook very often.  I'm just not inspired to make big dinners when they are just for me.  While I don't mind cooking less it's not great for the blog.  I've only been blogging for a relatively short time and do not have a lot of posts and pictures built up for uninspired days.  Luckily, I had a genius idea (at least I thought so) I would make a dish that was simple, big, and I wouldn't mind eating all week.  My genius idea was meatballs.  I  haven't had spaghetti and meatballs in a very long time, and I have never actually made them before so I was challenged and excited to try them.  I searched a favorite blog (Italian Food Forever) and found a great and simple recipe for meatballs.  I followed this basic recipe but used a slow cooker to let the sauce cook all day.

Ingredients:

Sauce

1 medium onion, sliced
6-8 cloves garlic
2 cans diced tomatoes (14oz each)
3-4 oz tomato paste (a little over 1/4 cup)
1/4  cup brandy, optional
1-2 cup fresh basil
2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp beef bullion
salt and pepper to taste

Meatballs

1 pound ground meat (beef and pork part Italian sausage would be great)
1 thick slice soft bread
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 Tbsp parmasean
1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste


Toss the onion slices and garlic cloves with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Lay out on a baking sheet and roast in 350F oven for about 20 minutes until tender and fragrant.  Meanwhile, add the canned tomatoes (and their liquid), tomato paste, brandy, (I learned on an episode of Good Eats that tomatoes benefit from the addition of alcohol, apparently it brings out flavor that you do not get without) beef bullion, and spices to a blender.  When the onion and garlic are roasted add them to the blender as well.  Puree the mixture until smooth then pour into the slow cooker.  Cook on low heat for about 5 hours.

Mix the meatballs.  Soak the bread in milk until it is absorbed and the bread is very soft (you could also soak the bread in a red wine I bet that would be great I just didn't have any).  Mix all of the meatball ingredients together until thoroughly combined.  Roll into golf ball size or slightly smaller pieces (makes 20-24).

Gently  drop the meatballs into the sauce in the slow cooker.  Turn heat to high and cook for at least 2 hours longer (do not stir until about 1 hour after adding the meatballs or they will break apart).

Cook pasta of your choice and serve meatballs and sauce over pasta.  Makes about 8 servings.

The great thing about meatballs is that they taste even better the next day, and there are many ways to change them up so it's not the same dinner night after night.  I put them on top of cheese toast
and I plan to make pizza and a meatball sub later.  Check back in to see these other uses for meatballs. Enjoy.

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