Okra(English), Bhende(Konkani) is one of the most loved vegetables for Konkanis. The okra we get here is pale green in color and quite big in size. When my father in law was alive, we used to grow lot of vegetables in our garden and okra was one of them. There is nothing like cooking with very fresh ones. Now we have more coconut/mango/banana plants in the garden taking up the space. So we usually buy relatively fresh ones from farmer’s market (saante as we call it). We make sagle, ambat, phodi, bharth, song and many more. This sukke is also a very common dish in North Canara. I find this very frequently on the menu at my SIL’s place. Teppal gives a very nice aroma to this dish.
Pictorial:
Cut okra into long pieces.
Cook with masala made of coconut, red chillies, kokum and teppal.
Okra in Coconut Sauce (Bhende Sukke)
Ingredients
- 1/4 kg approx 0.5 lb okra/bhende
- 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut
- 5-6 teppal
- 4-5 kokum pieces or 1/2 tea spn tamarind extract
- 5-6 red chillies
- Salt
Instructions
- Make a very smooth paste of coconut, red chillies with minimum amount of water.
- In a mortar and pestle, take teppal with a table spoon of water and crush them slightly (do not make a paste, just bruise them so that the aroma comes out).
- Cut okra in long pieces.
- In a thick bottomed pan, take the coconut paste, okra, kokum (or tamarind), salt, teppal along with the water used to crush them.
- On a medium-low flame, let it cook till okra is completely done.
- Serve hot as a side dish.
what a delicious Konkani delight….loved thi curry 🙂
prepared yesterday, lovely… thank you Shilpa! keep posting new recipes…….
Hi
can we omit teppal? Is nothing required for tanginess
You can omit teppal, but it won’t have the great aroma then. And thanks for pointing out sour ingredient, we had missed it. Updated now
At the farmers market the okra has been puzzling. Even though picked young, sometimes it is woody and sometimes if you run your finger across the edible green skin it has hairs that feel painful and sharp like needles or a razor! Why the okra does this?
I assume one should never cook it with those sharp razor like hairs? It will have these razor like hairs when okra is either short or longer in length.
Can you please teach how to select quality okra?
Try to snap the tail end of okra, if it snaps easily, then it is tender and can be used.
What about the spiney hairs?
I don’t think the tender okra which breaks easily will have spiney hairs.
What is teppal ?
It is a spice very specific to Konkan region. Read more here.
Shilpa I make bhenda sagale with following masala instead of teppal I roast a few coriander seeds, a few grains of fenugreek,1/2tsp rice [ to give smoothness to gravy].put the masala over the seasoning of mustard seeds , 3-4 methi dana and hing [asafoetida], at times I add a little finely chopped onion, ginger and a small piece of ginger .
Our sagle masala is slightly different than what you use. I am going to try your version sometime, thanks Kanchan
Should we use roasted red chillies or the normal red chillies?
Ramya, No need to roast the red chillies. Use normal ones.