Okra & Tomatoes with Indian spices

A week or two ago, I was still feeling a little chub from the holidays, and a little lazy as well. I was looking for a healthy meal to make that required little effort and didn't rely on a multitude of fresh ingredients.  I'd been looking forward to utilizing this bag of frozen okra because it's my new favorite thing. It has a nice crunch, almost like the beloved pickles, and a mild flavor. It needs very little spicing up.

I looked to Jackie at Pham Fatale to tell me what to do with this, since she does a great job putting easy twists on traditional Indian ingredients like Okra. I started following her blog when I realized her husband is Indian vegetarian and she is not, much like myself.

This  night, I followed her recipe for Bhindi Masala. I made it a little more tomato-heavy by using canned tomatoes, and left out the jalepeños. In this way, it met the "no grocery store trip required" criteria. I do always keep garlic, ginger and onions in the fridge - and ReaLemon in case the fresh ones go bad. My version came out saucier than my mother-in-law's, but still quite good eaten atop some naan (also frozen). I think it helped that I made the ginger-garlic paste instead of just throwing in diced pieces - the smooth consistency works best with Indian gravies. Yup, Jackie's still my go-to gal for non-Indians cooking Indian food!

A bit more about Okra, and one of my recipes HERE

Okra, tomatoes and potatoes