Vendaikai Vathal | Okra Fryums

I think I have posted quite a few Lassi recipes. :-) This is not a lassi recipe but another summer recipe following the concept of “Make Vadagams When the Sun Shines” – Lady’s Finger / Okra Fryums or Vendaikai Vathal or Sun dried Okra. It’s a super simple recipe and this can be prepared in bulk and stocked up. These okra fryums can be used in Kuzhambu varieties or it can be fried and served as rice accompaniment. I personally love it with yogurt rice.

This is yet another recipe from my Amma’s kitchen. It is prepared by soaking the chopped okra in butter milk for about 2 days and then sun dried until crisp. Summer in Bay area is always weird. It will super-hot between 11 am to 7pm and then it becomes windy and cold in the night. I am not complaining about the weather. I just love the weather (The real estate is sky rocketing because of this weather and tech companies). When I used to prepare these vadagams in Folsom, within two days they will all dried up and crips. But here in Bay it needs at least a week. That’s it, so no big complaints. ;-)  This year’s vadagam season started with Karuvadagam and here is the second one. You can either go with store bough butter milk or beat the yogurt to prepare the butter milk. Usually we use the butter milk churner to beat the yogurt.

Yogurt can also be used for soaking, but I followed my mother’s recipe and went with butter milk. Diluted and toned butter milk is also perfect for this recipe.  So here is the super simple okra fryums,       

Ingredients:

• Lady’s Finger – around 50 ( I picked medium sized tender okra)
• Salt – 1 tbsp
• Butter Milk – 3 cups 
• Turmeric Powder – 1 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp

Prep – work:

• Wash the okra nicely and trim the ends. Chop the okra into medium sized round pieces.

Steps:

• Take the butter milk in a vessel with a lid.
• Add the salt, red chilly powder and the turmeric powder to the butter milk and mix well. Make sure salt is all dissolved.

• Now add the chopped okra to the butter milk solution. If required add more butter milk. Make sure all the okras are properly soaked.

• Close the vessel and keep it in fridge. Let it soak for about 2 days. Shake this okra mix once in between.
• After two days, drain the butter milk and transfer the okra in a big plate or plastic sheet. (The okra will be sticky but as it dries it will become non-sticky)

• Sun dry this okra until they are crisp and completely dried like below.

Notes:

• Instead of red chilly powder, sambar powder can be used too.
• Make sure to shake the okra mix once when it is soaking.

That’s it. Store them in an air tight container and use in vathal kuzhambu or puli kuzhambu. This can be fried and served as rice accompaniment too.

Frying:

• The vegetable based fryums  should be fried in low heat. Basically what I do is, after frying appalam or other vadagams, I turn off the heat and then add the veggie vadagams like this okra ones. These gets cooked faster.
• Fry them until they turn brown like below.

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Vendaikai Vathal | Okra Fryums

Vendaikai Vathal | Okra Fryums is prepared by soaking the chopped okra in butter milk for about 2 days and then sun dried until crisp. It’s a super simple recipe and this can be prepared in bulk and stocked up. These okra fryums can be used in Kuzhambu varieties or it can be fried and served as rice accompaniment.

Course: sides

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Okra Fryums, Vendaikai Vathal

Servings: 4

Author: Srividhya G

Ingredients

• Lady’s Finger - around 50 I picked medium sized tender okra
• Salt - 1 tbsp
• Butter Milk - 3 cups
• Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Instructions

Prep - work

1. Wash the okra nicely and trim the ends. Chop the okra into medium sized round pieces.

Steps

1. Take the butter milk in a vessel with a lid.
2. Add the salt, red chilly powder and the turmeric powder to the butter milk and mix well. Make sure salt is all dissolved.
3. Now add the chopped okra to the butter milk solution. If required add more butter milk. Make sure all the okras are properly soaked.
4. Close the vessel and keep it in fridge. Let it soak for about 2 days. Shake this okra mix once in between.
5. After two days, drain the butter milk and transfer the okra in a big plate or plastic sheet. (The okra will be sticky but as it dries it will become non-sticky)
6. Sun dry this okra until they are crisp and completely dried like below.

Frying

1. The vegetable based fryums should be fried in low heat. Basically what I do is, after frying appalam or other vadagams, I turn off the heat and then add the veggie vadagams like this okra ones. These gets cooked faster.
2. Fry them until they turn brown.

Recipe Notes

Instead of red chilly powder, sambar powder can be used too.
Make sure to shake the okra mix once when it is soaking.
That’s it. Store them in an air tight container and use in vathal kuzhambu or puli kuzhambu. This can be fried and served as rice accompaniment too.