Okra in a mustard sauce, or as we so fondly call them dharosh. I have a vegetarian in my household and always an abundance of fresh veg, Bengali and British alike. There is always some Okra about as they go just about in anything.

We enjoy this version in our house. Full of flavour and taste. Okra in a mustard and tomato sauce. We never struggle for a recipe for dharosh.


I don’t weigh veg so these are approximations.

INGREDIENTS:

About 30 Okra…topped and tailed.

3 tbsp oil…
1 tbsp mustard seeds.
1 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar
1 bay leaf
2 dried chillies

1 tsp chilli powder
Half tsp of tumeric
1 tsp of cumin
Above 3 spice powders mixed with 4 tbsp of water.

3 med tomatoes chopped really small.
A bowlful of okra topped and tailed.
Don’t adjust spices for amount of okra…
You can use more or less okra.

2tbsp of COLMANS ENGLISH MUSTARD.
Half cup water.

METHOD:

Heat some oil in pan.
Add in couple dried chilles and a bay leaf.
After a few seconds add the mustard seeds cover and wait for the crackling and pops and nutty aroma.
Keep pan lid ready and add in spice paste and cover. It may spit. Add salt and sugar.

Stir the spices for a while until its drying and the oil splits. Add a splash of water and cook further until the oil separates again. Chopped tomatoes go in next. Cook this on simmer covered stirring occasionally till the onions have softened and almost blended into spices and oil splitting.

Add your okra…stir well. Cover and cook.
Meanwhile take 2 tbsp of Colmans English mustard and stir with half cup of water.
Now add this to pan with a few green slit or pierced chillies.
Cook until the okra is tender but not soft and the sauce is like gravy consistency with the oil starting to surface on top. Done.
Make sure you do not over do cook okra…it cooks on in residual heat after you take off heat.

This dish will dry a little more on standing.

TIPS:

When buying Okra try and pick out the bendy soft ones. If they are firm and pop when squeezed they are too mature and could be stringy. Go for tender ones that can slightly bend without bursting.

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