Vendakai Pachadi - Okra Relish

Vimala Jayaraman

We had the mologootal with this pachadi for lunch today. Truly outstanding when Ramesh's mum makes it.

1. Wash and cut 200gms of Bhindi into small bits.

2. Lightly fry 1/2 a tsp of mustard seeds and a 1 tsp of udad dal. Add the bhindi, 1/4 tsp haldi, one red chilli and one green chilli. Cook for 5-7 minutes or till the bhindi is almost cooked (till it loses its gooeyness)

3. Soak a lemon sized piece of tamarind in hot water for 5 minutes. Extract the juice and strain.

4. Add this to the bhindi and boil till it becomes tender.

5. Grind 1 1/2 tbl spns of fresh coconut along with 4 small green chillies and 1/2 a tsp of raw rice. Add to the bhindi. Add salt to taste.

6. At the end add 1 tsp of jaggery and adjust salt.

Eat along with rice, mologootal and Papad or Chips.

As a variation you could have Parangikai (Lal Petha) Pachadi - the only change required is that in step 5 above you could add 1/2 a tsp of mustard seeds when grinding.