Vendakkai curry is delicious one with onion and tomato base. Step wise pictures and full video recipe.
Vendakkai AKA Okra/ bhendi is one of the veggie I love to eat,especially this recipe I learnt from my MIL is so yummy with sambar rice. She in turn got special tips for this recipe from my FIL 😉
That is to fry ladies finger in generous oil and the masala has to be roasted until browned to get a perfect and delicious curry.
One trick while cooking okra without handling too much of slime quality it has is, washing it well and pat drying it completely before cutting. I usually wash, spread over a clean kitchen towel and eliminate the moisture completely before cutting.
Use oil enough to avoid too much of slime. As it gets cooked, add little by little and the slime will be gone, don't panic if it is too slimy at the beginning.
Check out my vazhakkai curry
Vendakkai curry recipe
Ingredients
- 22 Ladies finger/ vendakkai
- 1 Onion
- 2 Tomato
- 1 teaspoon Sambar powder
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric
- Salt
- 1 tablespoon Sesame oil
- 1 tbps Oil
To Temper
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- ½ teaspoon Mustard
- 1 teaspoon Ulutham paruppu/ Urad dal
- 1 Curry leaves sprig
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry the ladies finger and cut into desired bite size pieces.
- Chop the onion and tomatoes finely and set aside. Heat a pan with the sesame oil and fry the cut ladies finger in medium flame stirring now and then until the ladies finger starts turning brown here and there and the viscous nature of it goes away. Keep aside.
- Heat oil for tempering and splutter the mustard,add urad dal and the curry leaves. Add the chopped onion and fry till transparent.
- In goes chopped tomatoes, add required salt, fry till the tomatoes turn mushy.
- Add the fried ladies finger,sambar powder and turmeric powder and mix well.
- Sprinkle some water if needed  and mix well and cook covered in medium low flame. Water from tomato itself is enough for this to get cooked, if adding water just a tablespoon of water is enough.
- Stir in between for even cooking. After the ladies finger gets cooked, keep the flame in medium and let the masala get brown and oil oozes out form the curry. Turn the curry occasionally to get the browning effect. Top with oil if it sticks in the pan.
Video
Notes
- Choose young ladies finger while buying (if you break the tail part,it should break crisp)Â
- If the ladies finger is very old, big and have so much of seeds in it, it's not young and it will break while you cook and won't be tasty. While you test, the tip won't break completely.Â
- Add oil sufficiently at each stage to avoid stickiness. Add as necessary.Â
- There should not be any water content with ladies finger as it will make it more slime-y and takes long time to get rid of it while cooking.Â
- Sesame oil helps to reduce the slime.
How to make vendakkai curry method:
- Wash and pat dry the ladies finger/ vendakkai and cut into desired bite size pieces.
- Chop the onion and tomatoes finely and set aside. Heat a pan with the sesame oil and fry the cut ladies finger in medium flame stirring now and then until the ladies finger starts turning brown here and there and the viscous nature of it goes away. Keep aside.
- Heat oil for tempering and splutter the mustard,add urad dal and the curry leaves. Add the chopped onion and fry till transparent.
- In goes chopped tomatoes, add required salt, fry till the tomatoes turn mushy.
- Add the fried ladies finger,sambar powder and turmeric powder and mix well.
- Sprinkle some water if needed  and mix well and cook covered in medium low flame. Water from tomato itself is enough for this to get cooked, if adding water just a tablespoon of water is enough.
- Stir in between for even cooking. After the ladies finger gets cooked, keep the flame in medium and let the masala get brown and oil oozes out form the curry. Turn the curry occasionally to get the browning effect. Top with oil if it sticks in the pan.
Notes
- Choose young ladies finger while buying (if you break the tail part,it should break crisp)Â
- If the ladies finger is very old, big and have so much of seeds in it, it's not young and it will break while you cook and won't be tasty. While you test, the tip won't break completely.Â
- Add oil sufficiently at each stage to avoid stickiness. Add as necessary.Â
- There should not be any water content with ladies finger as it will make it more slime-y and takes long time to get rid of it while cooking.Â
- Sesame oil helps to reduce the slime.
Transfer to the serving bowl and enjoy as accompaniment for rice!
I updated the pictures with Indian Okra while the step wise pictures are the same old pictures that I used a different variety. So the look may vary.
Hari Chandana
Woww.. this is my fav curry.. very tempting snaps dear.. thanks for sharing !!
Sharmilee! :)
Wow my fav veggie too...mine is same version but minus sesame oil plus we add jeera....rest are the same...looks so yummy. I luv it with both rotis and rice
Gayu
Okra is my favorite veggie and the curry looks super-delicious..I prepare it almost the same way and love the taste after the addition of sambar powder..
Hamaree Rasoi
Ladies Finger Curry looks so colorful & yummy. Loved the recipe.Very different method.Would try it out very soon.
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
Shabitha Karthikeyan
I love this version. When we get bored of the usual okra fry I make this one. Looks so good Raji !!
Hema
Raks lovely pic as usual.. This is the exact same way I too prepare it.. Though yours look more tempting.. Lovely combo! My all time fav sambar rice and okra poriyal
Indie.Tea
It looks delicious....
Suja Sugathan
My favorite veggie..nice recipe,looks delicious
Mahi
I never add tomato in vendaikkai poriyal..looks yumm!! will try next time.
Sayantani
thats a new curry to me. will try your version looks so tangy and tasty.
DEESHA
This is my fave .. absolutely love it
Smitha
Thats yummy for my tummy!..love bendi anytime!
divya
looks yummy....
Pushpa
Awesome vendakkai curry,a great combo with hot sambar rice..yummy
Pushpa @ simplehomefood.com
Santosh Bangar
LOOKS DEIOUS AND TASY THIS DIFFERENT RECIPE NEW IDEA MUT TRY
DO VISIT MY BLOG
Padma
Love vendakkai and this looks lovely and very tempting..Nice click.
Swathi
Nice okra curry Raji. I need to try .
Satya
vendakkai is my favorite veggie too ...this curry looks superb ....love it
Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com
NIDHYA
Curry looks mouthwatering...mmm mmm mmm good..
http://aaha-oho.blogspot.com/
aipi
i love the way you have cut the okras..so uniform in size 🙂
It is our family fav too..will try your version!
US Masala
jeyashrisuresh
adding onion and tomato to vendakkai curry is totally new to me, never tried this version.
Looks very awesome with beautiful clicks and will try this soon
notyet100
curry looks yum.,..
Pavithra Srihari
as always .. wonderful clicks ... love this simple curry as well .. i am there anytime for okra 🙂
Shanthi
Colourful and fantastic. Would like to grab it from the plate
Sushma Mallya
Nice and easy recipe, and looks good too...
Roshan
i like the intro....i am also a fan of Okra.... nice recipe....
Chitra
Very new to me.I always do the saute method.. will surely try this tomorrow 🙂 Thnx !!
Priya
Irresistible curry, my fav anytime..
Pavithra
This is my fav veggie and i too make this ..love this so so much .. wish I am there to relish raji made sambar and vendakkai curry.
Akila
my all time favorite....
kothiyavunu.com
Anything with okra..just love it..ur curry looks so tasty!
Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal
Love the mouth watering pic.
lissie
this okra curry is just perfect for rice or rotis! looks really good..
Jay
As usual I m drooling over it...yummy..yummmmm...:)
Tasty Appetite
Mano Saminathan
A very nice recipe! Beautiful snap!
Laavanya
I used to make this exactly like this and was my favorite.. unfortunately my husband likes it dry so don't make this often.
Jagruti જાગૃતિ
looks so yummm...never made with sambar powder...!
Rachana
A mouthwatering okra curry. Would love to have with rotis.
Sarah Naveen
My Fav curry!! nice clicks..looks so mouthwatering!!
Anonymous
Very very tempting! Ladies finger is my favorite vegetable. would love to this recipe.
Cham
My fav veggie and I thought I will post the recipe tomor... But I have a different okra! Pict looks delicious!
women-wisdom.com
delicious Okra and neat presentation. Beautiful clicks.
Hamsamalini Chandrasekaran,
http://indianyummykitchen.blogspot.com
Kalyans
uh hooo...that looks tempting...ladys finger is one of my fav vegetables. We prepare one ladys finger dish with mostly poppy seeds and other items without any gravy and this one looks quite similar to it...nice clicks too!
Premalatha Aravindhan
Vendakai curry luks very tempting,aishu's fav...will try this method next time.
Janu
Tried this for lunch today. Was sooooo tasty!!! Loved this version 🙂
Ananya
lovely recipe!!
Ananya
creative recipe...
Nevin
good one! thanks for the recipe!
Ammus
superb recipie thanks a lot, a varaprasatham for a bachelor like me
Lavina
Great recipe, thank you for posting. I did not have any sambar powder so I substituted it with curry powder (may or may not be the same). This is a dish that I will make often