I made this dish of Bhindi Gosht or Mutton with Okra a while ago and shared the photo on my Facebook page. It received quite a number of squeals of delight as it is quite a traditional recipe. But some of the readers had doubts about the recipe. I don’t blame them.
There are people who are mutton lovers and then there are people who love okra. Some love their mutton dishes and some love crispy okra. The one thing they don’t like is anyone trying to do something funny to their mutton or okra dishes. Like putting them in big pot and cooking them together. I had done the unpardonable. I had put some good chunk of goat meat and spoiled it by mixing it with okra. Even my biggest fan, my teenager, was a little skeptical when I first put this on the dining table.
“Am I going to like it?” she asked. “You won’t know until you try it, Bunbun”, said the mom. “Ohkaaaayyy!” ( insert teenager attitude + Grump)
I did understand the skepticism. There are not many people who like an okra when it is slimy and adding any kind of liquids to okra does make it rather slippery and slimy which is not a very nice thing to do to okra. And she usually likes her okra fried or sautéed. So this was a big step for her.
Then the teen ate it and then ate seconds. “Oh !it’s not funny to touch at all”, she squealed. I smiled (outwardly). (I told you so (very quiet inside the head))
So how do we cook okra and not make it slimy?
- Ensure you either pat them dry after washing or let them dry on their own. But before you cut them, they should be dry.
- Never overcrowd the pan when cooking
- Buy small tender pods.
- Let okra come to room temperature before cooking.
- Don’t add salt until the very end.
- If you need to add them in a soup, gumbo or a curry, precook on high heat before you finally add them in.
- Cook on high heat. That‘s all there is to cooking okra.
Bhindi Gosht – Meat with Okra
Ingredients
- 750 gms goat meat bone in - mixed pcs
- 500 gms okra – washed patted dry and cut into 2 inch pcs.
- salt to taste
- 2 tsp chilli powder
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- I medium sized whole garlic bulb
- 1 ½ cup sliced onions keep 1 cup and half cup separate
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes
- 8- 10 green chillies chopped roughly
- oil for frying
- 4 tbs oil
- 1 ¼ C water
Instructions
- Heat oil and fry the okra in it.
- When you put in the okra, the oil has to be very hot, so be careful.
- Also do not over crowd the pot.
- Fry the okra to a point where the slime vanishes and all you get is a deep fried okra.
- The easiest method to test this is by dipping a slotted spoon in the pan and lifting a few okras and letting them drop back in.
- While you are dropping the okra back in, notice the oil falling back from the spoon as well. If it appears to have a slimy/ watery texture, your okra is not yet fried to the desired texture.
- The okra is done when you can no longer see the slime lines along with the oil on the spoon.
- Do not overcook the okra at this stage and ensure you don't brown them too much.
- On another heat source, put a pressure cooker and add in 4 tbs oil and heat it.
- Then add the meat and sauté for about 2 minutes.
- Now add in the water, 1 Cup of sliced onions, tomatoes, garlic and all the spices except green chillies and pressure cook it for about 10- 12 minutes.
- Start the timer after the pressure builds up and starts to release.
- And as always, pressure cook on medium heat.
- Allow the pressure cooker to release the pressure on its own – this allows for further cooking of the meat.
- Once the pressure releases, open the cooker and check for liquid quantities. If there is too much water, bring the contents of the cooker to a boil and let it boil till the liquid evaporates and the oil separates.
- When you see the oil separating, add in the onion and the green chillies and the fried okra. Stir to mix carefully. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 10 more minutes.