The recipe was inspired by some okra I ate at my favourite restaurant in Goa, called Gunpowder. It is okra and potatoes like you’ve never seen them, as if they’ve been given a glamorous Hollywood makeover: tossed in cumin seeds, curry leaves and garlic, then flavoured with tamarind and spiked with chilli before being encrusted with toasted sesame seeds. This dish goes very well with moong dal or an aubergine curry, alongside chapattis or rice, and yoghurt.
Ingredients
- 30 g sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 10 fresh curry leaves
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
- 300 g Jersey potatoes, washed, each cut into 6 wedges
- 700 g okra, topped
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- 1½ teaspoons tamarind paste
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon salt
How to Make It
- First toast the sesame seeds. Set a large lidded frying pan over a medium heat and, when hot, add the seeds. Stir-fry them for 2 to 3 minutes, until almond brown, then tip on to a plate.
- Put the oil into the same pan over a medium heat and, when hot, add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Stir for a minute, until the seeds pop and the curry leaves crackle, then add the garlic.
- A minute later, add the potatoes and stir-fry for 3 minutes, then add 2 tablespoons of water, pop the lid on and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the okra, turn the heat up a little, stir, pop the lid back on, and cook for 8 minutes, adding a tablespoon of water and stirring if the potatoes stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Now add the chilli flakes, tamarind, turmeric, salt and sesame seeds. Stir and cover again, cooking for a further 4 minutes, or until both the potatoes and okra are tender. Check the seasoning, take off the heat and serve.
