Little broke this month but got some garden-fresh okra from a coworker friend and fried it up tonight. It was so fucking good.
-edit: Added recipe in comments and now here as well! RECIPE (also I just made this up on the fly, but it worked out sooooo well!)
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- Batter: White flour (wheat), rice flour (white), uncooked grits.
- Seasonings: salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt, powdered milk. Everything to taste, only a teaspoon of the powdered milk.
- Wets for batter: water, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, soy sauce. Only splashes of the wets.
- Dry dip: same as the batter ingredients, minus the wets.
- Fry oil: blend of vegetable oil, olive oil, and unsalted butter. Only a 4th of a stick, just for flavor addition.
- Cooking instructions: Wash and cut your okra, cutting into small to medium bite sizes. Dip in batter, dip in dry dip, plop into the fry oil and look for a golden brown color. Voilà! Serve hot. Recommended that for reheating use the oven and not a microwave if possible. Keeps it cripsy if reheated in the oven. Enjoy!
Like a lot of things, it really depends on how it was cooked and if the person knew how to cook it properly.
A lot like mushrooms. Someone like my grandmother could do miracles with it, along side some pan fried catfish. But I wouldn’t really trust a restaurant to make it.
FWIW, the slimy texture comes from the mucilage, which is an adaptation to drought to help the seeds retain moisture. Unappetizing name, but it’s basically soluble fiber… that’s also vaguely sweet. You can soak it in vinegar and/or cook it quickly over high heat and that should reduce the sliminess to something not awful, and things like roasting will make it horrendous.
(Though it needs to be said, if you use okra in stews that horrendous mess turns into a thickener for the stew. It’s the traditional thickener for Gumbo, for example.)