Bendakai Veppudu | Ladies Finger Fry | Okra Fry Andhra Style

Ladies finger is well known as Bendakaya in Andhra. It is one of the highly nutritious low calorie vegetable used in almost every house in india. It is often used to prepare curry, stir fry, pulusu and also added in samber. Almost everyone will like the awsome taste of it even, children also like to eat. Bendi can be prepared in many ways, today i'm sharing how to prepare bendakai veppudu(okra fry), it is the simplest version. It can be served as a sidedish with sambar, rasam, or dal. You can have it with with both rice and roti.

Ingredients

250 grams okra/bhindi/lady finger 2 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp urad dal
½ tsp cumin seeds
2 dry red chilies
8 to 10 curry leaves
1 medium onion, ½ cup chopped onion
¼ turmeric powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
salt as required
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Instructions 

1. Rinse and wipe dry all the okra with a clean kitchen towel. then slice the bhindi in rounds. keep aside. 
2. Take a shallow frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil on low flame, add ½ tsp mustard seeds, ½ tsp cumin seeds & ½ tsp urad dal. 
3. Saute till the mustard seeds crackle and the urad dal turns golden. 
4. Next add 2 dry red chilies (broken and deseeded), saute for a second or two till the red chilies change color. 
5. Add ½ cup chopped onion,saute them till they turn soft. Add curry leaves. 
6. Now add turmeric powder, tsp red chilli powder and a pinch of asafoetida. 
7. Mix the spice powders with the rest of the ingredients. 
8. Now add the chopped okra, mix everything. 
9. Add salt, stir well again and saute on a low flame without covering the pan with a lid. 
10. Keep on stirring at intervals of 3 to 4 minutes for uniform cooking. 
11. Switch off the flame when the bhindi is done and cooked well. this takes about 12 to 14 minutes on a low flame. 
12. Garnish with coriander leaves and then serve bendakaya vepudu as a side dish with curd-rice, sambar-rice or rasam-rice. you can also serve this andhra style bhindi fry with chapatis.