Lady finger (Okra) in onion and garlic

I am an advocate of hassle free cooking. I have borrowed this recipe from my sister Anita, who regularly shares her kitchen wisdom with me. I prefer the vegetable to be crunchy and not over-cooked, since I serve this as a side to either a meat preparation or with rice, curry and fried fish. However, she cooks it till the onions are caramelized and the vegetable is slightly browned, since she serves this vegetable with chappathi, mostly carried in the tiffin by her and the kids. Either way, its a time tested preparation and you can't go wrong on this.

Today's post is one of those recipes that can be literally cooked without much hassle and time. The prep time depends on how fast you can chop onions, garlic and okra. And that's it. Don't believe me.... read on.

Ingredients:

1. Lady finger (Okra) - 250 gms
2. Onion (large) - 1 no
3. Garlic (medium) - 3 flakes
4. Green Chilly - 1 no
5. Lime juice - 1 tsp / juice of half a lime (optional)
6. Oil - as required
7. Salt - to taste.

Method:

1. Roughly chop garlic, onions, and okra. Slit the green chilly.
2. Pour oil into a non-stick pan. When the oil is hot, reduce the flame to the lowest setting and add the garlic. Make a layer of onion on top of the garlic, and then make a layer of the okra on top of the onion.
3. Do not stir and cover with a lid.
4. Let it cook for about 7 - 8 minutes. Now add salt and lime juice, mix the contents of the pan. Let it cook for another five minutes or till the okra is cooked.
5. Alternatively you could also cook the vegetable till it starts to brown/ caramelize. The caramelization adds a nice touch to the vegetable.  And then take it off the stove.
6. This goes well as a side to any spicy meat preparation.

Notes:

You could make the same preparation by making a minor change. Replace garlic with half tsp of cumin (jeera). Turns out great too.