Monday I made the Chickpea-Battered Fried Okra recipe from Nik Sharma’s Season cookbook.

A few new-to-me ingredients for this one: chickpea flour, amchur, and fenugreek. I was able to find all of them at YDFM. Apparently there are two kinds of chickpea flours available. I think I saw besan at YDFM, but I purchased “Garbanzo Flour” which I’m guessing is the second version. At the time I didn’t know that besan was also a chickpea flour; Sharma doesn’t specify which one he means in his book, and I assume that the flavor is close enough between the two. The amchur was labelled “Indian mango powder” (and I did research amchur beforehand to know that was the right thing). Fenugreek seeds were available both whole and ground. The recipe called for ground, so that’s what I got to avoid having to grind them myself.

Cooking the okra was very straightforward, outside of the annoyance of frying. We really don’t deep fry frequently. The batter was good and thick and adhered to the okra well. I had twice the amount of okra called for, but I’m glad I didn’t double the recipe, because that would have taken a while to cook all of it. The recipe, as is, makes a solid 4 servings.

The kids weren’t home to try it, so it was just my wife and me. I thought the okra were fine. We had the Hot Green Chutney for dipping as that recipe recommended itself for the okra, and we had the lemon slices. A squeeze of lemon did a lot for the okra, but I still felt they needed a little something more going on. I would rate them 3 stars: would eat again, but would not request them. My wife would give them 4 stars. She thought they were good, but just as good as roasted okra which is much easier to prepare.

We might make this one again, but I think it’s unlikely.

I am cooking my way through Nik Sharma’s Season cookbook. Read more about it.