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 Vendaikkai 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 they 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 buttermilk for about 2 days and then sun-dried until crisp. Summer in the Bay area is always weird. It will super-hot between 11 am to 7 pm and then it becomes windy and cold at night. I am not complaining about the weather. I just love the weather (The real estate is skyrocketing because of this weather and tech companies). When I used to prepare these vadagams in Folsom, within two days they will all be dried up. 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-bought buttermilk or beat the yogurt to preparing the buttermilk. Usually, we use the buttermilk churner to beat the yogurt. Yogurt can also be used for soaking, but I followed my mother’s recipe and went with buttermilk. Diluted and toned buttermilk is also perfect for this recipe.  So here are the super simple okra fryums,   

Ingredients required for vendaikkai vathal:

Okra – around 50 ( I picked medium-sized tender okra) Salt – 1 tbsp Butter Milk – 3 cups Turmeric Powder – 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp Oil, as required for frying

Prep – work:

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

Steps:

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

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

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

Let this okra dry under the hot sun until they are crisp and completely dried like below.

Notes:

Instead of red chili powder, you can use sambar powder too. Make sure to shake the okra mix once when it is soaking.

That’s it. Store the vendaikkai vathal in an air-tight container and use them 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 these okra ones. These get cooked faster. Fry them until they turn brown like below.

📖 Recipe

PS:  If you try this vendaikkai vathal, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it ASAP. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas! Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates! You can also sign-up for my newsletter for weekly updates.

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