Will purple color turn green?

After a long time, I visited my local farmers Market. The market was crowded! Great, more and more people get out early from the bed to take a stroll over the weekend. Probably the weather is so far perfect not too cold or hot.

Our Farmers Market is opened year around in Sunday. The diversity of crops shows the different culture and ethnic background. We are at the beginning of Harvest season, I was quiet amazed seeing so many Asian varieties particularly Indian one, from bitter gourd, snake gourd, cluster beans, broad bean, gongura (sorel leaves), methi, okra, well you name it! After all, this market is well known for the Asian variety of vegetables in Bay.



One of the veggie which captured my attention is of course: Purple Okra. I have never seen or heard before in my life. They were slim, long and tender no wonder it is called as “ladies finger”in India. I snapped right away a piece to taste it! That is the cool part in Farmers market. The taste was same like the Green okra; just the color is spooky for the season- I guess. But the purple color turns green when it gets cooked!

Okra appeared weekly in the menu when I was a child. Stating it was a great booster for “brain development” and you become brilliant in Math. I am not sure how far is truth! Probably, that would be our elders trick to make us eat that mushy veggie with ease! If you hate okra reconsider your thought once again and try once more!

Note: Never use any water, if needed cover the pan.
Don’t mix often while cooking.
Keep the stove in medium heat.
Selecting okra: I don’t recommend snapping the tail. If you do please use the bin to throw it ( that would be fair). Just look for okra which looks like your finger (slim & tender).



Ingredients:

Okra curry without tomato: is slightly dry curry – they are crisp and spicy.

Purple or Green Okra/vendakkai: 1 lb (1/2 kg)
Onion: ½ diced finely
Curry leaves: few
Chilli powder: 1 to 1½ tsp
Turmeric: a pinch
Salt: as required (approx. 1 tsp)
Oil: 2 tsp
Coconut: 2 tsp- scraped
Seasoning: Oil: 1 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Split urad dhal: 1 tsp

Method:

Cleaning: rinse the okra under the tap water. Wipe the okra with a clean kitchen towel and cut into ½ inch size.
Now take a broad pan add the 2 tsp oil, add the okra, sprinkle little salt and let it cook in medium heat. Don’t disturb often, when they turn slightly brown, remove it. (If you use purple- when they turn green remove it) In the same pan, start the seasoning, oil, mustard and urad dhal, when they split. Add the diced onion and curry leaves. When the onion turns translucent add the sauté okra, sprinkle the chilli and turmeric powder. Let it cook in medium heat approx. 8 to 10 min without covering if possible. I like the okra slightly crunchy so I never cook longer in stove. Check for salt and sprinkle the scraped coconut and switch off the stove, serve as a side dish for rice.
Okra curry with tomato: Great for chapatti and rice, the taste is different (slightly tangy) - if you are trying first time okra- I encourage you without tomato! 



I used green okra for this curry!
Follow the same above recipe; add one big diced tomato after the onion is cooked. When the tomato leaves the oil in pan, add the okra.The rest is same as above recipe.

Comments

Finla said…
Wowo i have never seen purple okra, we have farmers market here twice a week. But such a pity there are no Indian stalls :-(
Priya Suresh said…
Wow purple okra, never heard or seen..Curry looks excellent..
Arc said…
Oh wow.. never seen purple okra.. if they turn green on cooking they are similar to the purple beans.. I bought them expecting a purple curry and it turned green too.. how fascinating! I just saw orange eggplants in Jugalbandi's website.. so many new things I see.. it is really fascinating!
Laavanya said…
I've not seen purple okra before :) I microwave the pieces as a single layer to make them less sticky. Nice curry Cham.
Lovely curry. Never heard of purple okra. Interesting post Cham !!!
Nandinis food said…
Wow! What a veggie! This is the first time I've seen a purple okra in my life. The fry looks delicious! Seeing the title, I thought you were talking about your template.
Unknown said…
never seen purple ones before..and they have turned green after cooking..curry looks yumm..
notyet100 said…
i luv bhindi in any form..:-)
purple one are new for me
Lakshmi said…
I have never seen purple bhindi and it turns green after cooking!!:) They look soo good Cham, we love bhindi too. Btw..my mom also told me the same, guess its to woo us to eat this gooey vegetable.
Pavani said…
I love okra and can it slimy. I've heard of purple okra, but never seen them myself. Curry looks yummm..
Pushpa said…
I have never seen purple okra before,dish looks lovely.

Pushpa @ simplehomefood.com
SS blogs here said…
Hey Cham.. your purple okra looks lovely. Nice to know you get such great fresh produce! Thanks for sharing the pics of this purple okra!
Anonymous said…
Its like magic! Purple okra turning green after cooking :) I had never seen it! It looks great :)
sra said…
What a find! I've never seen this before!
Vikis Kitchen said…
Never seen it. Good that you got it. Nice fry.
Madhavi said…
Oh never seen purple okra, and it turn green after cooking ????Hummm...This is very interesting. But subji looks great!!!
Pavani said…
Oh!purple okra..curry looks yummy n nice click dear..
Anonymous said…
Tht seems to be a magical okra wich turns green with envy...Loved the clicks !
-Tanvi
Vani said…
Turned a brilliant green too! I loved okra as a kid and still do. The fry sounds yum with some rice and yogurt!
Parita said…
Never seen purple okra before! curry looks wonderful!
Srivalli said…
Hello Cham, Festival greetings! Purple looks fabulous..and so surprising it turns green!..:)...
Vrinda said…
I have never seen purple okra,, looks pretty...
Usha said…
I have never seen purple okra, looks so vibrant! Curry looks lovely...
Latha said…
First time seeing the purple okra. Lovely color and a yummy curry.
Soma said…
This is a beauty. I never even knew about the existence of purple okras!! Gorgeous.

I have never cooked okra with coconut this way. Looks really good Cham.

Soma(www.ecurry.com)
CurryLeaf said…
Never ever heard of Purple okra.Surely spooky.Curry looks excellent.I too make similar way but do not add coconut.Nice that they turn green on cooking.
I have never seen purple coloured okra before. Looks so pretty, probably becaus eits unusual.
PJ said…
what a coincidence! i just saw some purple okra today when i was strolling through another farmers market.. i even pointed out to my husband because we had never seen one in purple color. who knew they would turn green when cooked :)
Sum Raj said…
woo this is the first time even i am cing purple okra..looks so fresh and the curry just incredible...loved ur click cham..:)
Unknown said…
Wow I have never seen or tasted this purple okra in US,or atleast where I was put up...This surely lucks sooper yummy,spicy n delicious...
Malar Gandhi said…
Never seen purple okra around here, looks splendid.
wow i am wondering looking at this okra in this colour...
Dori said…
Super nice one, the okra looks like it was cooked perfectly!