How do you cook and eat okra?

I slice it up to add in gumbo. You have to put it in near the end, a little before adding shrimp. I also bread and fry them on rare occasion which is not as much effort as you would think. I’ll buy it pickled sometimes. I don’t know if there is such a thing as too much okra. I have grown it in my garden with mixed results.

@ARE_you_kidding_me In gumbo, huh. So you don’t just eat it as a side dish? Or for breakfast?

Never had it for breakfast. It’s not gumbo without okra in my mind. I’ll have it as a side fried. Usually see it served here with mashed potatoes and fried chicken, sometimes fried catfish. I don’t eat too much fried food so if we make it that way it’s a special occasion.

Breaded and fried, one of my favorites, and only in summer.

My Mom always breaded & fried & I loved it; but I agree that it’s too much trouble!!! You can buy frozen okra already sliced & breaded & ready to be fried that taste just as good as what you have fresh. I’ve always boiled mine, adding a little bit of salt & butter once it’s on my plate. I’ve never tried steaming it but can only assume they would be similar in flavor. I also throw a little bit in my vegetable soup because it gives it a delicious added flavor. Another favorite is to add sliced okra to tomatoes & pasta shells (or favorite shape). I cook the pasta in with the tomatoes & when close to done, I add the okra & let it cook maybe 5 more minutes. It gives me a reasonably thick side dish. It’s my version of succotash without the Lima beans (not my favorite). I’ve never had okra for breakfast but that might have more to do with my avoiding breakfast & waiting to eat lunch. Ten to twelve pods would be a lot unless you really love okra. I’d suggest turning that into 2 seperate meals.

I also slice it and put it vegetable soup

Cut in quarter inch slices to put in Gumbo, it adds a flavor and thickens the broth.

I also use in Gumbo and veg soup. I make veg soup more frequently as a personal preference

Well I sure did it wrong! I took 12 and cut the tops and bottoms off. I steamed 6, and fried 6 and ate them for breakfast.
If I decide to get creative I’ll try breading but I am so lazy.
I’ll also try adding them to other dishes.

We have staff for that!

@LuckyGuy How hard is an egg wash and a tin of bread crumbs? Come on!

@LuckyGuy You can add okra to just about anything. Whether cooking in a slow cooker or an electric pressure cooker, I tend to grab a hand full or 2 and toss it in. Excellent thickener and adds a hint of flavor without being overwhelming. Boiled over rice is also pretty damn good as well

@KNOWITALL For me, mom cooked it so much better that I can’t touch it so it’s too much trouble for the final outcome. If mom was still here, it wouldn’t be any trouble

@SEKA Aw, I’m sorry. I’d happily make you a wonderful batch if you were here, I really love it. Many restaurants here have it on the menu, too. Even gas stations..haha!

Two words: baby fry-daddy

OMG NO. You only use about 2 tablespoons of oil, cook on low stirring constantly. Don’t allow it to cook to hard. When it’s close to being done, remove from heat and place in the oven on 250–300 to finish its journey. The bread crumbs that fall off toast nicely to mix with the okra. I know how she did it but it never taste as good as hers. I guess that she threw in a little more love than I do

@SEKA You do you, everyone loves mine. :)
But I also hate raw okra and think it tastes like slugs.

I’ve only ever used it in gumbo, but honestly the mucus of okra and the stringiness it adds to a soup is kind of gross. I like the taste, though.

i tried another experiment for lunch.
I was on the road yesterday and had a coupon for Burger King: 2 original chicken sandwiches and 2 orders of fries for $4.99. I ate one and took the other home. Since you all spoke about adding it to food,....
I took 2 pods, sliced them into 1/8 disks and fried them in olive oil on med-lo heat until they were golden brown and crispy.
I warmed the chicken sandwich in the microwave for 40 seconds. I opened the sandwich and spread the okra disks on top of the chicken.
It was a delicious combination! A few of the okra disks were slightly crunchy like potato chips. They added nice texture to the mushy sandwich.

I don’t cook with okra. The only kind I ever had are fried ones that I steal from Rick’s plate at restaurants. I was surprised to learn I like them!

I fry okra so it’s almost crunchy and doesn’t produce so much ectoplasm. Lol

I can eat a dozen in one sitting dipping it in soy sauce.

@mazingerz88 Ectoplasm…haha, that’s funny. And apt.

^^Yeah days of me as a kid with my family raising backyard veggies and eating them together made me a lover of veggies at a young age…the only thing I hated was eating okra dripping with snail sludge. heh heh

@mazingerz88 I tried to be healthy and steam some fresh okra and almost threw up it was so nasty. haha

It’s slimy!

Okra’s got tasty sweet taste and chewy which I like. But yes, fry fry fry!

I add a few pods to any kind of beans or peas.
I steam it whole.
I use it in soups and even heavier in gumbo.
I use it in jambalaya.
I love it fried but don’t fry in my house. When I am in the mood for it I get it at Cracker Barrel.

@LuckyGuy Never thought about adding it to a fast food sandwich; but what you described sounds good!!!

Another morning, another experiment

I had a leftover cooked Italian sausage and 8 okra pods. left.
I cut the tops and bottoms off the okra pods, cut them in half and then steamed them in a covered bowl in the microwave for 2 minutes.
While they were steaming, i opened the sausage lengthwise and fried it in olive oil. That took about 8 minutes.
Then put the steamed okra in the same frying pan on med low heat so the okra were golden brown on 2 sides. Then I stood them up on the cut end for about a minute which browned them a little more.
I put them on a plate with a slice of Italian bread. The okra picked up some of the salty spices of the sausage. Delicious.

Another question… Are we supposed to eat the tips? I tried a couple and they seemed fine.
It seems like a waste to toss them.

I always do. I toss the stem though.

Back when I ate a lot of boiled okra, I cooked them whole & then ate from the tip to the stem (tossing the stem). When my Mom fried them, she used the tips as well. I think a lot of people cut the tips off because they don’t appear to not have a lot of flesh to them. My Mom grew up during the Great Depression, so she wasted NOTHING!!!

My thinking is that it doesn’t matter what others do, IF you enjoy it…GO FOR IT!!! I listen to what others have to say & then I use that to experiment with how I prefer to do it. I’ve discovered some good flavors experimenting to see how something might turn out & it becomes my way of fixing a meal that I love!!!

This way…....
http://thegreekvegan.com/tag/greek-okra/

Now I have a craving for bread dipping oil. I encountered that for the first time at an Italian restaurant last year. Found a recipe for making my own. YUM! Plus they gave us a green salad with goat cheese. I didn’t even need a main course after that.
Man, we gotta go back there, like NOW!