One of my favorite plants that we grow in our garden is okra. I love okra! I will eat it almost anyway, well except for boiled because it gets really slimy and gross. Two of my favorite okra dishes are Fried Okra and Okra Stew (and of course Veggie Patties, but we have already looked into that one). Here is how I prepare both.
Fried Okra
- Okra cut into 1/2-1 inch stars (as much as you want)
- Flour (Self-Rising works best, but I mostly use All Purpose because that is what I tend to keep on hand)
- Oil (enough to fry in)
- 1-2 eggs, depending on amount of okra
- Hot Sauce (optional)
- Seasonings: Onion Powder, Cajun Seasoning (Tony’s baby), Seasoned Salt, Ground Black Pepper, Cumin, and Garlic Powder (or Garlic salt depending on preference)
- ZipLock Baggie
- Cut okra into pieces. Meanwhile heat oil in a large skillet.
- Scramble eggs in small bowl. If wanted add a couple of dashes of Hot Sauce.
- Mix flour with seasonings, roughly a cup or so of flour and 1-2tbsp of each seasoning. I never measure exactly so this makes it taste slightly different each time! Pour into ZipLock baggie.
- Coat okra pieces with egg mixture.
- Place okra in the baggie with flour mixture and shake bag until flour evenly coats all sides of okra.
- Place flour coated okra in hot oil and gently toss with tongs until okra is golden brown. Transfer to plate covered in paper towels. Serve immediately. We like to eat ours with ketchup, but they are just as good plain!
Ingredients all ready to go!
Okra coated in egg mixture
Coating the okra in flour, last step before frying!
Finished product...doesn't it look delicious?
Okra Stew (adapted from All Recipes) – beware this is a spicy dish
- 1 pound Kielbasa sausage cut into bite sized pieces
- 4 tablespoons margarine
- 2 green bell peppers, seeded
- 1 large onion
- 1-2 cups frozen corn kernels or fresh whichever you have on hand
- 1-2 cup chopped okra
- 10 Roma Tomatoes – blanched, peeled and chopped (you can add more if you wish)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tsp bay leaf
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 green chile pepper
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- Shrimp (optional)
- Chicken, diced and cooked (optional)
- Fry sausage in skillet until heated through (I like to blacken mine a bit).
- Dice vegetables.
- Heat butter in a stock pot and saute the green pepper, onion and jalapeno pepper for 2 to 3 minutes or until translucent. Mix in corn, okra, tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaf and chili pepper. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the sausage (if using shrimp and/or chicken add it here), return to a boil and simmer for another 25 minutes.
- Serve warm
**This recipe freezes very well and is easy to make large servings for.
**We serve ours over Jasmine rice or Minute rice.
Frying the sausage and blanching tomatoes
How to Blanch Tomatoes: First boil tomatoes until skin starts falling off. Remove from boiling water and place in an ice bath. Once tomatoes have cooled remove skin
Finished product - My mouth is watering!
Happy Cooking! Disclaimer: I never really measure spices when cooking so they could be off a bit. Just use your taste buds and add more or less accordingly.
