Okra

While we are on the subject of love/hate relationships (see my red clay post!) I will share my relationship with okra. I adore fried okra, crispy and golden and green. I adore pickled okra- the way those little white seeds pop and squeak when you bite them. I adore okra fritters.

I think boiled okra is one of the nastiest concoctions that anyone ever considered eating. Stewed okra and tomatoes? Nope. Okra in gumbo? It is a necessity for good gumbo flavor and thickness, but I pick it out. How backwards is that? I put it in the gumbo and vegetable soup all the time for flavor and as a thickener, but won't actually chew it up and eat it. It is purely a textural issue that just isn't there with fried and pickled pods. It's the slime factor- the technical word is mucilage. Mucilage is defined as "mucus like". No thanks.

I just can't get past it.

I also like to grow okra, they are neat looking plants with beautiful flowers. They are a member of the hibiscus family- hibiscus esculentus if you are into Latin, which I am. Thanks to you Mrs. Kendrick, my 8th grade Latin teacher- I didn't appreciate you then as we were conjugating verbs in Latin, but I pay homage to you now. Vita Somnium!




Okra is easy to grow in the hot humid southern summers and once it is established it doesn't need much help from you. Very satisfying. When the okra patch is in full swing you will have okra running out of your ears. I make these fritters when I have pickled enough.

Back to the fried okra. I adore eating it- but I hate making it. It makes such a huge mess you wonder if it is even worth the trouble. It is, but when I am in a hurry or just not in the mood to clean the kitchen all night, I make these okra fritters.
If you don't have any okra they are also good with frozen or drained canned corn. If you don't have any corn, then shame on you, just make them with the onions. If you don't even have an onion, just forget it and have frozen pizza. These are homey and country but company loves them too. If I need "comfort food" I make these with a pot of butterbeans or blackeyed peas. Put the fritters on a  plate, ladle over a helping of butterbeans or peas and top with a heaping spoonful of chow-chow.

Okra Fritters

• 3/4 cup corn meal
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3/4 - 1 cup buttermilk, depending on how you are cooking them
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 2 cups somewhat thinly sliced fresh okra- (the frozen kind is generally cut too thick for these to turn out right)

1. Combine everything but the onions and okra  in a bowl.
2. Add okra and onions, stir to combine.
3. If you want them to be thicker and more "frittery"- like hush puppies- mix your batter thick (less buttermilk) and heat about 1/2" of oil in a skillet and drop by 1/4 cup measures in to the hot oil.
4. If you want them to be flatter then mix your batter more thinly (more buttermilk)and cook like pancakes in just a bit of fat until the edges get nice and crunchy/crispy. This is my favorite way, especially if you use bacon fat to cook them!