Okra Coconut Curry (sort of)

• 5 cups Okra sliced into rounds
• handful of mustard seed
• hing  (Asafoetida) powder
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 grated coconut (not the sweetened kind)
• handful of green chiles
• 6 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• 1 cup water
• 1 8oz can of coconut cream
• a two fingered ping of dried methi leaves

What’s the most important question you can ask yourself while cooking? If you are anything like me, it is “How do I fix this?” I can’t seem to get through a dish without making at least one mistake.  Thankfully I’m good at the fix it game and I usually manage to turn the problem into a plus. Here is one example:

I had a nice bag of okra, so I set out to make the Okra Curry I found on Aayi’s Recipes. My first mistake was forgetting to buy curry leaves. I’d been to three stores already and didn’t feel like going out again so I decided to go ahead without them. The second was thinking that I had a large bag of shredded coconut in the freezer. It turned out to be about a half a cup. Thankfully I had a can of coconut cream in the pantry that did the trick. The third was forgetting to add the tamarind paste. I had to dissolve it is a quarter cup of water that I boiled in the microwave to make it easy to blend into the finished dish. Despite all this it turned out really well.

So this is how it should have gone:

1. grind the chilies and coconut into a paste
2. fry the mustard seed in the oil until it begins to pop
3. add the okra and garlic, sprinkle liberally with hing, and saute until about halfway done
4. add the coconut chili mixture, saute for a minute or two
5. add the water and tamarind paste, stir until the paste is dissolved
6. add the coconut cream and cook until okra is almost done
7. add the methi leaves and simmer for a minute or two