Keema and Lady Fingers

Picked these beauties up at Farmer's Market on Saturday.

Many people think they don't like okra, mainly because they haven't had okra done right!  Here's how to cook it without too much......er....slime:

Okra has to be treated very respectfully.  It is not a mere peasant like a potato which you can disrespect and mash up and it responds deliciously.  Okra is a little too aristocratic for that.  If you don't treat okra just right it will not hesitate to slime you.

First give your okra a gentle rinse in cold water being careful not to break or bruise it.

Then lay it out on a fuzz free towel (or paper towel....although I rarely if ever have paper towels).  Pat it gently dry.  Then let is air dry.  If there is any water left on the little beauties when you cut them they will slime. 

When they are completely dry cut off the very top, being careful not to dig into the core.  When the seedy core comes in contact with water it gets gelatinous. 

At this point you can do what you want with them.  Fry them, add them to gumbo, stew 'em with some tomatoes, etc.  They are healthy and delightfully yummy.

Here we have Keema (which is Indian-style minced meat.  I used lamb.) and Lady's Fingers (which is what I learned to call okra when I spent a summer in Pakistan).  We ate this with a jalapeno slaw, cucumbers with yogurt, and Poori (tutorial here).  Served with La Crema Pinot Noir.  I made a lot of everything, really hoping we'd have left overs today.  I guess I made it a little TOO TASTY, because it's all gone!  I guess it's grilled cheese for lunch today. 

Here's another tasty recipe using okra.  It has a lot of ingredients, but is sooooooo worth it.  It's one of my favorite soups.