Ground Beef with Baby Okra

I have always liked okra, or as we call in Bengali 'Dharonsh' or in Hindi 'Bhindi'. Some early memories were of my Boro Maashi (mom's elder sister) putting these baby okras in masoor daal with lots of garlic. It made the daal develop a whole new meaning for me and with some rice and ghee, the texture was phenomenal! Hey, it must have been that great since I was about three and I still remember it clearly. Later, when we lived in Ranchi, Mom used to fry pieces of okra with cumin and turmeric and we used to have it with rotis for dinner. Those were tough days, Baba had to send almost all of his paycheck to his parents for his brothers' education, so mom had to do with very less. Proteins cost a lot and we had meat or fish only once or twice a week. Okra was cheap, but she did magic with them. I loved them!

Last week I found some nice okra at the local market. I generally pick the small baby okra from the heap. You see, as okra matures, it gets more fibrous and then you have to chew it and throw the fiber out, it's pretty gross. I like the soft small ones which are easy to bite into and even eat whole. Baba taught me the way to pick the 'right' okra, you hold the okra in your hand the pointy end between your thumb and forefinger. Then, try to snap the pointy end. If it snaps off easily, you do not want it, it is mature. If it's pliable and gives you trouble snapping off, then it's the okra for you. And when you take only the small ones, usually all of them are babies and the 'right' ones for you. So, last evening, I had a small bag of baby okra ready for cooking.

Hubby and I like to have one-dish lunch. Mostly for the convenience - heat it in the microwave and good for a working lunch! And ground beef dishes are the most common lunch I make for us. I try to improvise and come up with new ways to cook ground beef, preferably add vegetables and/or pulses of different sorts to make it interesting and nutritious. So this is an experiment with ground beef and okra.

Ground Beef with Baby Okra

Ingredients
1 lbs of ground beef
1 lbs of okra
2 Tbsp of white oil / Ghee / EVOO
1 Red Onion, diced
1 head of garlic, sliced
2-inch ginger, in thin strips
1 Tomato, diced
Freshly squeezed lemon juice from one large lemon
Meat Masala - 1 Tbsp (or more), whatever you have on shelf. I used Shaan, it's hot and has a good mixture of spices, including turmeric.
Salt, to taste

Preparation

1. Do not wash the okra first, it becomes slimy. Peel the tips of the okra while reserving its conical shape. (This is what mom used to do when cooking whole okra, I do not know why. Sorry!) Then put the okra in a bowl with water, some salt, and add 2 Tbsp lemon juice. Lemon juice prevents the okra to go all slimy on you.
2. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add onions, garlic, and ginger. Saute until they get translucent. Add tomato and the meat masala. Keep sauteing until the tomato dissolves and the masala starts to leave the oil.
3. Add ground beef, break up the clumps, saute the beef until it is no longer pink.
4. Drain the okra and add to the pot. Stir so that the meat mixture covers the okra. Add the rest of the lemon juice.
5. Cover and cook, occasionally stirring to make sure everything is cooking evenly. You may have to add little bit of water sometimes to make sure the mixture is not getting too dry and the okra is cooking.

Notes

• As with all recipes, please do not take the proportions very seriously. Use your imagination and go on what 'you feel like'. That's the key to a happy meal!
• We love garlic and ginger, and use a lot of it. Feel free to reduce the quantity to suit your taste.
• Meat Masala - I have quite a few versions on these on-the-go spice packets on hand when I want to make something quick. If you do not have any at hand or prefer to go basic, you can use a mixture of coriander powder, turmeric, cumin powder, and garam masala.