Name: Okra Curry with Toasted Chickpea Flour (Sindhi Curry)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 1 large tomato, cored and cut into 2-inch pieces; 8 ounces fresh spinach leaves, well rinsed and finely chopped; or 1 package (8 to 10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed (no need to drain); ½ teaspoon tamarind paste or concentrate; 2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; ½ teaspoon ground turmeric; 4 to 6 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, to taste, stems removed, cut lengthwise into thin matchstick-like strips (do not remove the seeds); 10 to 12 medium-size to large fresh curry leaves; 5 to 8 pieces frozen “drumsticks” (each 3 to 4 inches long; no need to thaw; see Tip); 1 small Japanese eggplant (about 6 inches long and 1 inch in diameter), stem removed, cut lengthwise in half, and then cut into 2-inch lengths; ¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems; 2 tablespoons canola oil; 1 medium-size russet or Yukon Gold potato, peeled, cut into 2-inch cubes, and submerged in a bowl of cold water to prevent browning; 1 cup fresh okra, rinsed and thoroughly dried; ½ cup oily or unoily skinned split yellow pigeon peas (toovar dal), picked over for stones; ½ cup sliced fresh or frozen lotus root (½-inch pieces; no need to thaw if frozen; see Tip); 1 teaspoon cumin seeds; 2 tablespoons Toasted Chickpea Flour

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

While growing up in a traditional vegetarian Brahmin home in Mumbai (known as Bombay in those days), I was keenly aware of the aromas that wafted in from our neighbor’s kitchen, Mrs. Chandwani’s foreign garlic and toasted flours mingling with our familiar fresh curry leaves and roasted mustard seeds. I truly never appreciated the marriage of culinary traditions back then. But now, years later, when I return to my birth land, I stop by her house to visit (talking in a loud v