I love okra. Since the first time I tried it I have loved it — no “acquired taste” here. Perhaps it helps that the first time I tried okra was while living in Jaipur, India with host family that had a marvelous cook. He didn’t speak English, and I didn’t speak much Hindi, so we were never really able to talk about what he was cooking, but I often stood in the corner and watched him prepare the days’ meals. These usually involved lots of vegetables — onions, sweet potatoes, okra, and cabbage especially — , lots of handmade chapatis, one or two kinds of daal, sometimes a meat curry, and often a tasty sweet like gulab jamun, halwa, or kheer with pistachios.
I don’t claim to be able to cook authentic Indian food, but I do my best. I have a good collection of Indian cookbooks, my favorites being Ruta Kahate’s 5 Spices, 50 Dishes
In a perfect world, I probably would have made “Indian Spiced Paneer” rather than “Indian Spiced Tofu”, but in Hannover, Germany it’s hard enough to find decent tofu, let alone decent paneer. I’d say it’s worth trying if you have access to good paneer.
As a recipe note, you really should serve the tofu alongside this (or some other) raita. On its own without the additional liquid from the raita, the spice paste feels a little cakey, and is not nearly as enjoyable as when served with the raita. In fact, the raita was really the star for me here — rich, a little sour, salty, well-spiced, and oh the okra — love it!
Crispy Okra Raita with Indian Spiced Tofu
Crispy Okra Raita
from 5 Spices, 50 Dishes8 oz fresh okra, rinsed, well dried, and cut into 1/4 inch rounds
6 T. cooking oil, divided
1 c. plain full-fat yogurt
3/4 – 1 t. salt
1/2 t. sugar
1/8 t. cayenne
1/8 t. turmeric
1/2 t. mustard seeds (black is preferable, but yellow it ok too)Heat 5 T. of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is very hot, add the okra, toss, and let sizzle. Toss occasionally. The okra will slowly turn crisp and brown. Once the okra is well-browned, remove to a paper towel and set aside until ready to serve.
Whisk the yogurt with the salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Place the cayenne and turmeric in a small pile on the raita, but do not mix in yet. Heat the remaining 1 T. of oil in a small skillet over high heat. When the oil begins to smoke, add the mustard seeds, covering the pan with a lid or spatter screen. After the mustard seeds stop sputtering, pour the hot oil directly on top of the cayenne and turmeric powder (This cooks the powdered spices without burning them). Do not stir the dressing yet.
For presentation, just prior to serving, place the crisp okra on top of the dressing. Stir the okra and dressing into the yogurt while serving
Indian Spiced Tofu
1 block medium firm tofu, drained and pressed
3 T. cooking oil
1 T. curry powder
1/2 t. chili powder
1 pinch turmeric
1 pinch garam masala
1/2 t. salt
juice of 1 small limeCut the tofu into bite sized pieces, then place in a medium bowl. Add the oil, curry powder, chili powder, turmeric, garam masala, salt, and lime juice and mix well. Leave to marinate for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your broiler.
Place tofu cubes on a baking sheet, and broil for 10 minutes without disturbing. Flip the cubes over, then broil for an additional 10 minutes.
To serve: Place the baked tofu on a plate, and top with raita. This is a filling and delicious dish on it’s own, but could be accompanied by a green salad, a side of steamed spinach, or perhaps some Indian naan bread if desired
Still Hungry? Try one of these:
Comments
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 11:48 am and is filed under Delectable Dairy, Veritable Vegetables. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I know, this is the best book ever!! The farmers markets here are overflowing with the little indian egg plants, and I’ve made the peanut sesame eggplant dish several times recently.
I think I’ll try it w/ paneer. Cowgirl Creamery makes a nice paneer, but the texture is closer to ricotta. The Indian paneer dishes I’ve seen always seem to have cubed paneer that looks very different, more like tofu. Perhaps I’ll buy the Cowgirl paneer wrap it in cheesecloth and drain the moisture. Does that make sense to you?
Looks delicious Jen. I have to admit I’m more of a tofu girl than a paneer girl. However it’s possible that the stuff I got at whole foods isn’t the best possible representation. I’m considering making some homemade paneer to see if I like that better.
What a gorgeous recipe this is. I can imagine it would be lovely with paneer – but I like the fact you’ve used tofu. I don’t think to use that ingredient with Indian food. A lovely simple idea, but with heaps of flavour and texture.
I want to hear more about your time in India. Lucky girl!
The tofu sounds wonderful, but I think I could eat the raita straight! I just love how varied your kitchen is.
How long does it take to get the okra crispy? It’s the only way I like it but I’ve never been able to cook it properly!
Have you thought of making paneer? It’s easier than a lot of “from scratches” I’ve seen on here.
http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2008/05/24/how-to-make-paneer/
The food looks lovely – I might have to give okra a go after reading this post.
denise — did you end up trying to make the paneer? what you said about wrapping it in cheese cloth and draining it makes sense to me. Also if you wanted to keep it rectangular you could poke some holes in a milk carton or some other sort of container and drain it in there (weighted, perhaps?)
Kelly — I haven’t tried the whole foods paneer. Do you have any indian markets near you? that could be a good place to get authentic, hopefully delicious paneer
Kathryn — Thanks for commenting! I too am more of a tofu person, mostly because it’s so much more readily available than paneer. I am intrigued by making it from scratch like Katie mentions below though…
Erin — I spent about 4 months in India back when I was in college. I stayed with a host family in Jaipur for the first month or so, then spent the rest of the time split between Bangalore, Mysore, and being on the road. It was a totally crazy experience (it was the first time I had been outside of the US besides Canada too), and I will never forget it. I feel like everything (positive and negative) is so intensified there — the colors of the clothings, the sounds, the noise, the beauty of the temples, the stink of the enormous piles of garbage…
Foodycat — Unfortunately, I didn’t time it, but I would say roughly 10-12 minutes. The edges get crisp and darkened, but the inside stay chewy like a fresh vegetable. A couple of tips: make sure the okra is completely dry before you slice it and cook it, and also make sure your oil is pretty hot — almost smoking, but not quite
Kaite — great information! I love DIY food projects, and this looks totally doable. I am surprised that making paneer looks a lot like making ricotta
I’m already drooling! I spent a couple months twice in India and I just Love, Love, Love the food! I think I will give this a try using my fresh Okra out of my garden. I too never ate Okra until I was in India. I also can’t wait to have a look at 5 Spices! Thanks.
Hi Jen, I did not drain the Cowgirl Creamery paneer, but I did make my own chenna & paneer from scratch and it was easy peasy! I used the recipe in Savoring India by Julie Sahni. My paneer is marinating in the oil and spices listed above right now. Yes, I am eating dinner VERY late… Thanks for this interesting recipe! -Denise
denise — nice! knowing it’s not so hard is a good motivating factor to try making paneer from scratch. Let me know how it turns out.
It turned out soooo good! My husband loved it too! One change in the recipe w/ the paneer, I only broiled it for about 6-8 minutes per side versus 10 minutes per side. I’m not sure if that was necessary due to my super-hot oven and broiler or if paneer browns up more quickly than tofu. I will absolutely be making this again!
denise — fantastic! I am glad you guys liked it! another version of raita in the same cookbook uses 2-3 chopped red onions that have been roasted in their skins — sounds delicious if you want another variation
Oooooo…yes yes, that will be fantastic. I’ll do it. I’ve roasted onions many times, but I’ve never roasted them in their skins. I’m assuming keeping the onions in their skins helps retain moisture as they roast. Thanks!
Great recipe Jen! We decided to cook the tofu in the bbq instead of the broiler and it came out wonderful. The smoky flavor went really well.
nate — good to hear from you! bbq-ing the tofu sounds great… how I miss my bbq! Anyways, I hope all is well with you! I’ll be back in the bay area (for good) at the end of october, and I’m sure we’ll cross paths at some point soon after
great to hear you’re coming back! Hopefully you’ll get a place with yard enough for a grill. I couldn’t live without mine.
…will you be re-joining us?
Okay…I’m going in the kitchen to make this again. This time I’m trying it your original way, with tofu, and I have red okra.
denise — red okra! where did you find that? I tried growing it in my garden a couple summers ago, but it got bug infested pretty early on and I had to pull it out before it produced any okra pods. so disappointing
Let me know if you think it’s better with tofu or paneer — I am quite curious
I found the red okra at the SF Ferry Plaza farmers market. It didn’t crisp up like the green okra did. I don’t know if it was me or the okra, but I think I prefer the good ol’ green variety. Maybe I did something else that changed the crispness, I’m not sure. I definitely prefer the texture and taste of the paneer over the tofu. I also used Greek yogurt this time, but I prefer the dish with the basic whole milk Brown Cow brand yogurt I used the first time around.