Stir Fried Lady’s Fingers

Stir Fried Lady's Fingers

In the second installment of the 4-part series of cooking highlights with Violet Oon, she shows her recipe for Stir fried lady's fingers. You may know of Violet Oon as a prominent and respected chef in the cooking scene, and the authority in Peranakan cuisine. She is also widely known in the international arena and is a food ambassador for Singapore overseas. Today's stir fried lady's finger is a classic vegetarian Indian dish you can serve for family dinners.

Lady’s finger, also known as okra is a pod vegetable that is not highly raved by many due to the slimy interior texture it has after cooking. However this vegetable has many health benefits such as high fibre, vitamins, minerals, low saturated fats, low cholesterol and it helps regulate blood sugar levels.

In this Indian recipe by Violet Oon, she teaches you how to cook lady’s fingers without the gluey texture. She does this by dry-frying the lady's fingers on high heat first which seals the cut parts and dries out the liquid inside the lady's fingers. Say goodbye to slimey, gluey lady's fingers! Mustard and lentils are also used to give the dish its distinctive Indian flavours. Where the recipe asks for frying on high heat, it is to bring out the fragrance and flavour of the ingredients.

Stir Fried Lady's Fingers

Print Recipe

• CourseMain Dish
• CuisineAsian, Indian

Stir Fried Lady's Fingers Print Recipe CourseMain Dish CuisineAsian, Indian

Ingredients

• 300 g lady's fingers aka okra
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp broken urad dhal
• 3 tomatoes finely diced
• 3 stalks curry leaves
• 3 tsp fenugreek leaves

Instructions

1. Rinse the lady's fingers. Dry with kitchen towel and remove the tops. Slice the lady's fingers into 2 diagonally.
2. In a frying pan or wok, dry fry the lady’s fingers on high heat until it darkens in colour (this will take around 4 minutes). #Tip: The cut parts will get sealed and this dry frying method ensures that the lady’s fingers will not exude its distinctive glue-y liquid as this cooking method dries out the liquid inside the lady’s fingers.
3. Set the lady's fingers aside.
4. Add the oil to the pan or work and turn the heat to high. Wait till the oil starts exuding smoke.
5. Add the mustard seeds, urad dhal and curry stalks and stir fry briskly as the curry leaves will splatter oil and stir till the seeds pop.
6. Add the tomatoes and fry well. Add salt and fry till the tomatoes are soft and slightly melted down.
7. Add the fried lady's fingers. Stir well and add crushed funegreek leaves. Stir well and turn off the heat.