Bhindi Bhaji

Bhindi Bhaji

WESTERN INDIA | SANJAY GHOSH

Bhindi, also known as lady’s finger (okra), is a type of green vegetable and is largely used in Indian cooking. It is long, thin, and finger-shaped, with a pod tip at the top. For someone who is always on the move, I choose to keep my cooking as easy as possible with the simplest ingredients at home. One can easily replace okra with some other vegetable and use the same recipe to get the authentic taste of Indian food.

>> Cooking Playlist

This playlist reflects the diversity of India. It is a mixture of classical songs, such as ‘Awara Hoon’, and songs for weddings. It also includes a song from Lagaan, a film about cricket. As much as I love Western and other regional songs, the Indian playlist does make me feel nostalgic and brings back the memories of India. Indian food tastes better with Indian music.

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‘Awaara Hoon’ from the movie Awaara • ‘Hungama Kyon Hai Barpa’, Akbar Allahbadi’s famous gazal sung by Manjari • ‘Chunari Chunari’ from the movie Monsoon Wedding • R’adha Kaise Na Jale’ from the movie Lagaan •

‘Bhalle Bhalle’ from the movie Bride and Prejudice

Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes Serves: 2

Ingredients

½kg bhindi (okra), diced 1 tsp salt 1 pinch turmeric 1½ tsp vegetable oil

Method

1. 2.

3. 4.

5. Mix salt and turmeric with the diced bhindi. Heat the oil in a pan and add okra. Stir it for 3–4 minutes. Close the lid and continue cooking for 8–10 minutes. You will see the bhindi change colour as it becomes cooked. Your bhindi bhaji is ready to be served and is best enjoyed with boiled rice and lentils.

For flavour enthusiasts, you can add onions and more spices: Ingredients Method

1 large onion, chopped 1 tbsp cumin powder 1 pinch chilli powder 2 tsp garlic and ginger paste 1. 2.

3. 4. After heating the oil in the pan, add chopped onion. Add cumin powder, chilli powder and garlic and ginger paste. Stir the spices and leave it for 3–4 minutes. Add bhindi, mix well, and finish as above.

About Sanjay

“My journey to Belfast was out of curiosity and an interest in visiting and discovering Northern Ireland. It started with a month-long trip around 2005. One month led to six months, then to a year. I have now made Northern Ireland my home. ”

I completed a PG Dip in Business Administration at the University of Roehampton. To complement my education, I did further management courses, including from The Chartered Management Institute to gain the title of Chartered Manager.

The courses helped me further my career and encouraged me to develop my skills in marketing, project development, and events organisation.

I decided to live here because of the people in Northern Ireland and how I could use my skills to bring communities together. Irrespective of the weather and despite the history, I found people in Northern Ireland very welcoming and friendly.

Over the years, I have volunteered with The Prince’s Trust as a mentor and worked with The Extras Department. The Prince’s Trust helped me understand the local community and gave me the opportunity to serve the young people of Belfast. The Extras Department gave me my moments of fame on the big screen through various productions.

As an Indian, I am proud of my culture and heritage. In 2008, I organised my first event and probably the first Indian event in Antrim town, eighteen miles from Belfast, ‘The Indian Cultural Night’. Antrim town was filled with the sounds of Bollywood and classical Indian music and dance, and the smells and tastes of Indian food.

I was encouraged by family and friends to continue and ImageNation NI was born. We work at grassroots level, understanding the community needs and demands, and started organising multi-cultural events. In 2019, we held possibly the only Bollywood DJ night in Northern Ireland, ‘Belfast in Conversation’, and organised coastal and other tours of Northern Ireland for members of the Indian community to come together and see more of beautiful Northern Ireland. We enjoy celebrating the important festivals and dates such as Diwali and national celebrations. We were privileged and blessed to bring back ‘The Belfast Rath Yatra’, also known as Festival of Chariots.

Over the years we have integrated with the local community. In 2019, we introduced ‘Namaste Belfast’ for the first Belfast Cultural Day. We also became stakeholders with The Arts Council Northern Ireland for The Jaipur Literature Festival Belfast and collaborated (during the pandemic) with CRAICNI (Cultivate Respect, Appreciate Inclusion in Communities in Northern Ireland), a social enterprise that supports inclusion and diversity training and offers educational services. Their previous work includes the Big Virtual Lunch in 2020, as well as the Belonging Project, a musical collaboration between India and Northern Ireland.

This year we have decided to become a community group, facilitated by CRAICNI through strategic planning. We invited the diverse community members from the Indian, indigenous, and other ethnic and local communities to be part of the stakeholder engagement to form our vision. We have developed a vision of the Indian community being integrated into Northern Ireland through an intercultural approach. Our mission is to support and connect the Indian community. We aim to integrate and build bridges between the local and ethnic communities.

“It has been a good fifteen years and I can see myself living in Northern Ireland for a long while. I have developed a love for Northern Ireland and the people, and I am very proud of living here. ‘The craic is ninety’, and if not India, Northern Ireland will be my home.”