Fried Fresh Okra…Don’t Knock It Til Ya Try It
August 19, 2008 by Marye Audet
Filed under 30 Minutes or Less, Quick and Easy, Side Dishes
I used to be an avid okra hater.
After all, I grew up nestled in the historic bosom of eastern Pa. Daintily eating pot pie (wet), Italian hoagies (wet), and Shoofly pie (wet). I nibbled on apple fritters and noshed on pretzels with yellow mustard served from the cart by a guy with a half smoked cigarette hanging out of his mouth and dirty hands.
Gastronomic heaven.
And then…when I was 11 we moved….to Texas.
Everything seemed hot, over-spiced and greasy. Unless it was undercooked and bland (grits). I went to a school that kept bottles of tabasco and jalapenos on the table. They ate things like frito pie, which looked disgusting, fried pickles (also disgusting) …You could BUY cups of pickle juice at the skating rink…were these people crazy?…And corn dogs.
Have you every really looked at a corn dog after you have bit into it?
It looks not quite right.
If you asked for a coke at a restaurant they asked you what kind.
And then…Okra.
I think my friend Mary and I made up a poem years ago (as adults…we ARE more or less adults…more or less) about okra…
Okra okra in the pot
Is it okra?
Or is it (s) not?
And yet. Somewhere on the way to middle age I developed a taste for it. I have no clue how….It snuck up on me like a San Angelo windstorm. But there is was.
I was addicted.
I loved it even more the summer our property went under 15 feet of good solid creek water.
The only thing that survived and kept producing? Okra.
110 degree heat? No matter. Okra.
I give up. Everyone in the family likes it, including Marc. Who was raised in…you know….:::New England:::
You can get frozen breaded Okra at the store but it is not anything like the real thing.
Fried Okra
- 20-30 pods okra, sliced in 1/4 inch pieces
- 2 egg, beaten
- 2 cups cornmeal (I like the coarser corn meal used for polenta)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- vegetable oil (peanut is best) for the deep fryer
- In a small bowl, soak okra in egg for 5 to 10 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, salt, and pepper.
- Heat oil in a electric fryer. Dredge okra in the cornmeal mixture, coating evenly. Carefully place okra in hot oil; stir continuously.
- When it is golden drain it and let the oil heat up for the next batch.
- Serve with tabasco.
Yummmm. I like fried okra!
I LOVE OKRA! I even like it boiled and slimy…I know, I know! My grandparents (both sides) KNEW how to make fried okra…it was the best. As to the pickle juice…ewwww?
LOL! Karen…most people either love it or hate it.
Claire_ I like it every way now too..I still can’t handle pickle juice..and I would not BUY in a cup…But they have pickle juice snow cones here too…weirdos.
Ohhhhhhh I LOVE me some fried okra. YUMMMMMY!
And grits….Frito Pie….Corn dogs…
I’m also guilty of all drinks being called “Coke”. What can I say? It’s a Southern THANG
Thats o.k. Tiffany…after umm…..over 30 years here I do all those things too.
I love okra. I’ve never understood its weird rep.
it’s ….the…..slime…
Yep..the slime…didn’t we make up that rhyme because of when I was training on the serving line of Highland Park cafeteria and they ran out of squash and they brought out this pan of green slime to sub for it and I stopped them and said, “Oh no! I think that is the garbage!” and was told.. “No, that is boiled okra”…and people paid money for it too….so yuk….
I think it was….
ah…fun times.
Ah…but then there’s Burmese okra. Big tender pods. Very low slime factor. I feed it to my okra hating friends. HA! Also, we deep fry whole okra. Give it a try!
I MISS TEXAS!! But I have my hoosier husband growing okra in our garden and loving it. We fry it up by the tons and eat it out of a big bowl with our fingers, like popcorn, just like my Granny Self used to make it. Thank goodness I am headed home to Dallas at the end of the week fro a short visit. Whataburger- here I come.
Tara-
it is cloudy here today,and looks like it may rain but you should have great weather by the end of the week.