Subscribe to RSSOkra(bhindi) or mushroom tava fries
Phodis - vegetables spiced and rolled in rava(samolina) and shallow/deep fried, are very popular among Konkanis. We make these from most of the vegetables. Some examples can be found in rava fries - post. These come very handy when we want to make a very quick side dish. They are very delicious and fast to make.
We get small button mushrooms here during the first rain. These are wildly grown in forests. Some people go and pick the edible ones and sell. These naturally grown mushrooms have unique taste to them and whenever we find these, it is a big treat. My both children loved these mushrooms. One of the dishes I often prepared was mushroom (almbe) phodi. Since these are very small, frying them individually becomes a very time consuming task. So usually these are neatly arranged on sticks from coconut leaves and then fry them. This way, it is easy to fry and fun to eat for kids.
Last year when we visited US, I noticed that the mushrooms available there are too big. But the bhindis from Indian store were quite smaller in size. Since my son-in-law loves bhindis, I thought of making these for him. We used wooden skewers. They looked pretty and as usual, they were very tasty. Make sure not to make too few, because they disappear from plate in minutes and the demand would outgrow supply.
Ingredients:
2 cups small mushrooms or okra
1 cup rava(semolina)
A pinch asafoetida
1/4 tea spn tamarind extract
1 tea spn chilli powder
1 tbl spn rice flour (optional)
Oil
Salt
Method:
Apply salt, asafoetida, tamarind, chilli powder to the mushrooms or okra (slitted). Leave it aside for 15-20mins.
Now arrange the pieces on skewers.
Roll them in a mixture of semolina and rice flour.
Shallow fry on tava. Serve hot.
Serves : 2-3
Preparation time: 30mins
These look so very very tasty!
July 21st, 2008 at 10:53 pmThank you so much:)
These phodis look- and sound- so very good, Mrs. Varada; an excellent mainstay dish to know and make well! I loved hearing about the mushrooms- thanks for sharing!
July 21st, 2008 at 10:54 pmWhat a clever solution to frying these small critters! Thanks a lot, will try it out today (with semolina). An aunt of mine made a magical okra fry similar to this with rice flour and besan. She would smear the okra with oil, coat with the flour mix and microwave it.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:27 amA more junglee version can be found here.
http://subhorup.blogspot.com/2008/07/charcoal.html
Oh varada mai..these bhindi phodis look simply out of this world..great idea of arranging them in skewers and frying in a tawa,which saves a lot of time..yummy entry!!
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:28 amTHIS LOOKS SO TASTY AND UNIQUE,..NEW ONE FOR ME.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:38 amAayi rocks! and so does her rava phodis!
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:56 amThey look lovely.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:24 amThis is a most interesting way of cooking okra. Skewering them is a great idea.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 amNamaste Aunty, those fries look soooo delicious, beautiful presentation. coconut leaves sticks, that is so very creative of you!
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:27 amAti Sundar!
We don’t make them too often because it’s a fried side dish, but he can smell them from a mile away when they’re on the menu. An aunt of mine suggested using sambar powder when we’re in the mood for a different taste. Thanks Kaku!
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:00 amMy husband loves phodis of just about any veggie. He is not from Goa so these are like a novelty to him.
wow!these really are new to me and makes me drool….thanks for sharing
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:12 amPhodis out of okra are new to me. Mushroom/Aalambe phodi is made in native place. I guess the onces i ate were made out of rice flour, not sure though. I liked the idea of using skewers for this small veggie. Thanks for sharing.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:47 amHey Shilpa…That looks like easy & a interesting recipe. And the idea of frying them on sticks sounds such a time-saver :-). Thanks for the recipe
Anitha
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:00 pmWhat a great idea to fry it on skewers! I think if the skewers are soaked in water for a while before using, they won’t burn. Thanks for this easy, fun and tasty recipe. I’m going to try it soon.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:45 pmNice post. Looking very tempting
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:00 pmWhat a delicious post :)..Aalambe season is the best in India, I know what you mean by the unique taste of the tiny fresh mushrooms…
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:17 pmHey shilpa,
awesome recipe…i have bindi rgt now in my fridge….this is something i have wanting to try from a long time …but did not find a good recipe anywhere…..this is going to be on the dinner plate today…..thanks soooo much!
Veda
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:35 amWhat an ingenious way to present the bhindis and so lovely to look at too !!!
Thanks, Aayi. This is a wonderful post and since it is the grilling season now, I shall definitely try this on our BBQ. My vegetarians friends would sure be happy !!!
Coming to alambes, my mom always used to talk about her childhood memories of going and picking the alambes and the various randayis using these tasty morsels.
We did find some wild-grown alambes in Bombay once, in our teens, which mom was excited to buy. She eventually used them in a new Burmese Curry with Cashewnuts. Like me, she likes experimenting in her kitchen. And we all got to eat a yummy recipe !!!
The button mushrooms that you get are no comparison to the wildly growing alambes !!!
Thanks, Aayi for sharing this !!!
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Shilpa
These okras are awesome.. Truly delicious!!
July 25th, 2008 at 7:36 amMai:
This sounds like a great idea for the barbecue grill. I put the bigish mushroom and don’t worry about them falling through the grate. But putting the Bhindi on a skewer is a simply fab!
Will try it at our next grilling dinner.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:01 pmThanks for sharing
i knew all other podis .but this new type i liked it. my son who is five years old loves all podis today i am preparing this for akshay1
August 8th, 2008 at 3:57 am