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DEL.ICIO.USWhat’s your favorite fried okra fix?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s one sure way to get someone to eat a vegetable they don’t like: Fry it. Why else would fried okra be on the menu at so many meat-and-threes this time of year?
Think about it: How often do you see stewed tomatoes and okra, another classic Southern dish, on cafeteria lines? But fried okra is everywhere. (And fried squash, for that matter.)
Tender young okra pods, the best for cooking, are abundant in farmers’ markets now, and in some community-supported agriculture deliveries. We got a small paper bag of okra tucked into our box from Riverview Farms last week. Later in the season, I might try lightly sauteing the okra or stewing it, when the pods get larger and tougher. But with the first okra, I fried. And it was delicious — blanched for two minutes in boiling water first, to partially cook the okra, then rolled in a cornmeal and egg batter with a shot of Tabasco sauce before frying for four minutes. Better than any fried okra I’ve had in Atlanta, although not as good as the whole fried okra with spicy pomegranate ketchup we ate earlier this summer at Guadalupe Cafe, a small restaurant specializing in local foods in Sylva, N.C. But I’m not going to try that at home.
Where’s your favorite place to get fried okra? Do you prepare it at home? If so, what’s your favorite recipe for it?
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Local Food
Comments
By Capt
August 6, 2007 2:06 PM | Link to this
We will buy it again….we are young and can have more children..
By Homeschool Mom
August 6, 2007 2:49 PM | Link to this
Best fried okra is cooked at home in the fry daddy after we cooked fried jalapenos so the grease is spicy
By Troutman
August 16, 2007 5:37 PM | Link to this
I have eaten fried okra every place I find where it is offered on the menu. None of it, even my attempts, comes close to matching what my mother cooked until she could no longer cook for herself. She passed away in 1992 at the age of 87. No one prepares or cooks fried okra in the way she did and the flavor and texture of her fried okra was incomparable.
By sandy
August 20, 2007 12:44 PM | Link to this
Ms. Lee: Although I think your method for pre-cooking the okra is to be commended, I am a firm believer in the “patience” model for fried okra. You see, you can’t get that golden “crispiness on the outside and truly cooked through on the inside of okra” without being willing to spend an hour, patiently tending that okra while it pan fries over medium to low heat in an iron skillet. If you get impatient and turn up the heat to fry it quickly, you burn the outside of the battered okra and the inside remains rather raw. Troutman, obviously your mother had acquired this lesson in patience, bless her soul. My recipe?? Use very fresh okra, those which yield easily to the slice with a sharp knife. Any okra that resists needs to be discarded. Slice it up into a large bowl. Dredge with equal parts of self-rising flour and cornmeal. Have your large heavy skillet ready, oil about 1/2” deep,heated over medium heat (you’ll know it’s ready for the okra when some of the flour/cornmeal mixture flicked into the oil immediately bubbles and starts to rise to the top..if it just sits there, wait a few minutes.) Scoop out the dredged okra into the pan, shaking it to settle everything in. Salt and pepper liberally. Let the okra fry for about 10 minutes,undisturbed. Carefully turn and let it continue to fry, adding oil as necessary to keep the okra in a slow, “bubbling” kind of fry, turning carefully about every 10 minutes. At ANY hint of burned smell, turn the heat DOWN and remove the pan from the burner for a few seconds, then return to heat. After about 45 minutes to an hour, your pan of fried okra will be ready, IF you are patient. :)