Bhindi Masala

Bhindi masala is okra pan-cooked dry with onion, tomato and spices until it just softens. It is a North Indian vegetable side built to avoid okra's one real flaw — the sliminess it releases the moment it's cut, which the dry, high-heat cooking here is specifically designed to cook off.

What it really is

Okra is sliced and cooked in a wide, uncovered pan with plenty of surface contact and very little added liquid, which lets the moisture and the sticky texture it releases evaporate off as it cooks rather than turning the whole pan gluey. Onion, tomato, turmeric and other dry spices go in alongside it, coating the okra rather than drowning it in a wet sauce the way many other Indian vegetable dishes are built.

Dry heat and an uncovered pan are the whole technique. A lid trapping steam is exactly what turns okra slimy; the dish depends on keeping the pan open and the liquid evaporating rather than pooling.

How it is served

• As a dry side dish, spooned beside a wetter curry and rice or roti.
• Warm rather than hot, since it holds its texture better once it settles slightly.
• Rarely as a standalone main, almost always as part of a larger thali.

How to write it on the menu

• It is naturally vegan and vegetarian as standard.
• Say that it is cooked dry rather than in a sauce, since guests unfamiliar with okra sometimes expect a wetter curry.
• Note that fresh okra is used, since frozen okra releases considerably more liquid and changes the texture of the finished dish.