We Bangladeshis love mustard in almost any vegetables and fish. The pungent taste and spicy flavor of mustard satisfy and amuse our taste bud that no other flavor can be compared to this delicacy! However, I am here to write only vegan recipes, so today’s post would be about simple, humble okra aka ladies finger again!

We only need a very few ingredients for this recipe and of course we need mustard seeds. However, I will try to make the dish again without tomatoes, just to see the difference it creates.

First thing I did was to cut the okras in 3cm long pieces. I cut both the end and the head to make them look uniform. Since I have used water to cook the dish, it is good to cut the okra in bigger pieces than usual.

Next, in a fry pan, I heated two tablespoon or 10ml Bangladeshi Mustard oil and added okra. The purpose is to shallow fry them and increase the taste. If you skip this step, the okra might end up as soggy. I shallow fried the okra until they changed their color and slightly golden on outside.

While okra was being fried, I made a paste of tomatoes and ground some mustard seeds. The better option would be to use puree or paste, both for mustard and tomato. Since I had none of those, I improvised!

After keeping the okra aside, I added half a teaspoon of black cumin/nigella seeds to the pan and let them cook for 10 seconds. Please remember that, always keep the temperature in low heat while adding in garnish to the oil, otherwise you may end up in burnt garnish.

When nigella seeds were popping, I added the tomato paste that I made and also added green chili paste, turmeric powder and chili powder. I kept the temperature low as this paste tend to splatter. If you prefer, you can cover with lid. I cooked the tomato for about a minute to get rid of raw flavor and until it starts to separate from oil. Then I added a splash of water to tomato to cook them for about a minute.

While tomato paste were being cooked, I took three table spoon of mustard powder in a bowl and made a paste adding few tablespoon of water.

I added the mustard paste to the tomato and mixed them well. Since mustard paste is little thinner, I did not add extra water. After few seconds, the gravy would get little thicker, so I continued to stir it.

Ok, enough of gravy making drama! I added the fried okra in the reduced mustard gravy and stirred to coat okra well. Then I added splash of water, about 100ml to cook okra thoroughly.

After adding water, I covered the pan with a lid and let them simmer in low heat. It depends on you how much gravy or how dry you want the dish. I like mine pretty dry, so I let the okra simmer for more than 5minutes.

The gravy looks desirable and okra are thoroughly cooked. I checked the salt and it was ok for me.

The whole process took only 20 minutes, from prepping to cooking. So if you are in hurry, this can be really easy dish to make. I know this can be little different to the western taste bud, but hey, it does not hurt to try new dishes once in a while, right?

Recipe: 3 Servings Prep time: 5 minutes, Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients: 250g Okra/ladies fingers 1 small tomato Spices and condiments: 3 tablespoon Mustard seed paste or puree or powder 2 Green Chili or 1 tsp green chili paste 1/2 teaspoon Black cumin 1/2 teaspoon of Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon of Turmeric powder 10ml Mustard oil/Vegetable oil 1teaspoon Salt

Instruction: 1. Wash and remove okra top and end part. Cut okra in 3cm long pieces. Make a puree of the tomato or just chop it if it’s too much of a hassle to puree only one tomato. Make a smooth powder or puree of mustard seeds too. 2. In a fry pan, heat mustard oil and add okra pieces. Fry them until they are slightly golden on outside. When done, set them aside. 3. In the same pan, add nigella or black cumin seeds. When popping, add tomato paste/puree, salt, turmeric powder, chili powder and green chili paste and mix well. Cook for 1-2 minutes with lid on low-medium heat. When tomatoes starts to separate from oil, add 50ml of water and let it simmer for a minute. 4. Add mustard paste or powder to the tomato gravy. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes. When gravy starts to get thicker, add fried okra. 5. Coat okra well in gravy. Add 100ml of water again to the pan. Now cover and simmer in low heat until the gravy gets in your desired consistency and okra are cooked thoroughly. Check salt and add more if needed. Serve warm with rice or flat bread!