Sri Lankan okra curry

A fresh and light recipe for okra curry adapted from an authentic Sri Lankan recipe. Flavoured with roasted Sri Lankan curry powder and coconut this recipe has to be tried.

If you’ve had okra before and thought it was slimy, soggy, chewy or just generally disgusting then please, I beg you, try this recipe. That person was me – I think I once made the mistake of buying and cooking with frozen okra – but since making this recipe for Sri Lankan okra curry I am a total okra convert.

Okra, sometimes known as bhindi, or even ladies fingers, is a green vegetable with a pointy end commonly found in the Indian subcontinent. It’s readily available to buy in London where I live – I would recommend trying your nearest large supermarket or Asian supermarket if you can’t find it.

This recipe was given to me by Shem, the same person who gave me the Sri Lankan roasted curry powder recipe. This okra curry is the perfect use for that curry powder. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

There are a few things you can do differently with this recipe. The original recipe, which Shem got from her Dad, calls for 1 tsp coconut powder or grated creamed coconut. I find coconut milk is much easier to get hold of in the UK so I decided to use this.

The recipe also calls for curry leaves. As with the okra you should be able to get hold of these in a large supermarket or Asian store but if not you can leave them out.

Here is the recipe for roasted Sri Lankan curry powder if you’d like to make your own.

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Sri Lankan okra curry

A fresh and light recipe for okra curry adapted from an authentic Sri Lankan recipe. Flavoured with roasted Sri Lankan curry powder and coconut this recipe has to be tried.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 350 g crisp okra
• 1 small tomato or 100g tinnedchopped tomatoes
• 1 red onion finely diced reserve 1 tbsp
• 10 fresh curry leaves
• 1 heaped tsp roasted Sri Lankan curry powder
• 1/2 heaped tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tbsp coconut milk
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp lime juice

Instructions

1. Prepare the okra. Trim the stem end and cut in half across the circumference.

2. Mix all the ingredients apart from the coconut oil, the curry leaves, 1 tbsp diced onion and lime juice together in a mixing bowl.

3. Heat 1 tbsp coconut oil in a medium saucepan until hot, add 10 curry leaves and the reserved tbsp of diced onion until sizzling and slightly brown.

4. Add all the other ingredients to the saucepan. Swill a dash of water around  the now empty bowl to get out any last traces of spice.

5. Heat on a medium heat for 3 minutes, then reduce the heat to low and cook for 15-20 minutess. The okra should still have a bit of bite. Turn off the heat and squeeze in 1 tsp lime juice.
   

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