So, here we are at the beginning, again. Today is the first day of September and there for the first day of my personal food challenge. The goal is give informative post about different foods along with original simple recipes. For the first seven days I will be covering vegetables. Honestly because so many veggies are severely underrated odds are I will be doing more than seven days worth of post on them. So.. lets get on with it.
Okra, okra, okra.
You are seriously under appreciated and somewhat mysterious vegetable. You have tiny, prickly little hairs all over you and when your cooked you make slime. But, I love you. I really really do. I like you fried, in a casserole, in gumbo and especially pickled. Hmmm okra pickles.
I really am OK, I swear I just really like okra. Once you get past all of it’s weirdness it has a fresh clean flavor and it is truly wonderful. Yes, it does make slime when you cook it which why it is used to thicken many stews like gumbo. Okra has gotten a bad rap because of well, it weird. It looks like something out of the world and once you cut it and add heat it becomes a bunch of slime with green stuff. Alright, maybe I have an issue the the slime.. not really it’s just the one thing that sticks out in every one’s minds.
Ok, let’s get down to it. Okra like many of it’s other green friends is full of nutrients that most people miss out on just because of the weirdness of it. Okra has a ton of fiber, B6, folic acid, Calcium, potassium and even some iron. There really is no need to explain why even though this veggie is so good for you most people pass it up but the truth is, it is really good for you and with the right recipe all of it’s weirdness can be over looked.
So, my favorite Okra application? Well, aside from pickles, which I haven’t made myself but am tempted to try it out sometime, my favorite okra recipe is stewed okra. The advantage to this is you want a thick sauce with this which okra does quite nicely with very little help. My family, yes even George, loves it when I serve up my Tex-Mex Stewed Okra. I like to use the froze okra for the ease of it but you could use fresh, just make sure to wash thoroughly, trim ends and slice into rounds. It goes well with just about any main dish and I have been known to eat the left overs alone. I hope that you all enjoy this recipe and come back tomorrow for my next veggie treat.
Lara’s Tex-Mex Stewed Okra
1 Package frozen sliced Okra, thawed
1 can Rotel or diced tomatoes with chilies
1 medium onion diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
In a medium sauté pan heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, and garlic and sauté until fragrant approximately 2 minutes. Add okra, rotel and cumin to pan and reduce heat. Simmer for 10-15 mins or until sauce is thickened. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Just got to taste this tonight, when my wife made it, and not only did she get to enjoy it (since it didn’t drain all her spoons), our only complaint was that we didn’t think to make a double batch, because it was so absolutely delicious! And here I’d thought the only way to enjoy okra was in gumbo or deep-fried. This is better than both!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I made it for dinner tonight and it turned out beautifully. My husband has already asked that I make it again.
I’m not a very good cook and have recently developed a lot of anxiety about it. I could pull this recipe off. It was really worth the little bit of extra work over throwing frozen vegetables in the steamer to get something that tasted this good.
Now, I can eat okra more often and not just when I find the fried stuff in a restaurant.