How do you cook this?
I bought some frozen sliced to add to my gumbo and my hubby said not to add it as it gets "slimy"
I thought you could add this to soups, stews, whatever...
He also said that they do not can it as it gets slimy as well.
Can someone clue me in?
Thanks,
Kirsten

yes wash first and then add towardsthe end do not over stir or it will get slimy

You can add it to soup and gumbo only if you were born in the south or have a strong stomach and the ability to eat slime. The only way for Yankees and the weak stomached to eat okra is to bread it and fry it.

A major word of caution --- never ever ever cook with tomatoes because it will look like what happens when you get hit in the nose by a line drive.

I often eat okra and never have trouble with the slime. I use fresh okra and tomatoes all at once no problem Wash before you cut if using frozen put in to warm up only. Do not over cook live a bit firm kind of like green beans.

You can also add whole okra into your soup, stews.... I usually use the frozen kind. You never have to worry about it becoming slimy.
Happy cooking and enjoy!

Maybe I just have some sort of a strange okra aversion. Everyone else seems to think it's OK.

Another good way to eat fresh okra is to just steam it whole and then put salt and pepper on it. It's delicious. Oh, and you should try growing it. It starts out as a beautiful yellow flower and then it becomes an okra pod.

Okay, you're going to laugh maybe; but here's my family's method for cooking okra. We never want it boiled, etc. Always fried -- but in the oven. No mess all over the top of the stove.

Slice the okra in thin slices. Coat well with cornmeal, salt and pepper. I put the cornmeal over the okra in a bowl and stir it to coat it. Put the okra in an iron skillet, place a couple tablespoons of Crisco on top (it will melt in the oven). Place in a 450 oven. Remove it occasionally and stir. I use a small spatula and just "turn it" gently. I don't really know how long to tell you to cook it -- until it gets as brown as you want it. When it's almost brown enough, I put a couple pats of butter on it and continue to cook just a little more.

If you have lots of fresh okra from your garden, you can do this, cook it until it's just short of being as brown as you want it. Cool it, put it in freezer bags and freeze. When you want to have it during those winter months, just thaw the bag of okra, put it back in the iron skillet in the oven and finish cooking. Just like fresh.

We also use the leftover fried okra in soup. No slime.

Sorry for the long post. This is the way my mother and grandmothers cooked okra. I was an adult before I realized some folks actually fried okra on top of the stove (LOL). I led such a sheltered Southern life!

Wow, now I'm hungry!

Think I will leave the Okra out of my realm.
K

If you want boiled okra put white vinegar in the water and it will not be slimy. But I was born and raised in the south and we always had okra in the garden it was one of the staple veggies next to crowder peas and butter beans.

Billy

See! I told you southerns can eat it and Yankees can't. My poor husband is from Nebraska and nearly fell off his chair the first time he saw boiled okra.

As with others, we were raised with okra in our garden in Louisiana. Moma just steamed it down in black iron skillet for a long time stirring frequently. She froze it and canned it. Used in gumbo a lot and no slime. Also have added frozen okra to my gumbos and no trouble with slime.

I was born and raised in gumbo land (Louisiana). NEVER had problems adding okra to gumbo. It does help to thicken the gumbo slightly. If I want okra other than in gumbo, I cut off the skinny tips, add them to boiling water with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. NEVER any slime at all and very YUMMY.

Being a Southern girl, I could live off okra! Here's a quick and easy recipe that even my Yankee husband and kids will eat.

Quick Okra Saute

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 pound fresh okra
kosher salt
pepper

Heat oil and butter over high heat in a large skillet. Add okra and saute 3 to 4 minutes or until pods are bright green with slight browning. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute okra only until al dente, you don't want it limp or slimy. For an extra kick, throw in some minced garlic when you saute the okra.

Here is a new one for okra lovers. I always fry it and we love it. Okla. people like it alot. DH uses left over fried okra and puts green onions and tomatoes chopped up, and salt and pepper. Let it set a bit and it is really good. I have fry alot so we can have left overs!

Now I am born and bred southern, Born and raised in Florida,a Georgia transplant for 3 1/2 yrs. I guess maybe you have to be if you love Tomatoes and Okra.. :shock: :lol: :lol: Because I do :shock: and love them boiled with bacon drippings :shock: :lol: Love them cornmeal breaded and fryed also tomatoes. Nothing like okra and tomatoes over white rice. :lol: :lol: When I cook them together then look at and smell them My family's mouth's always watered and come running to see them they are done. We never thought they looked like what happens when you get hit in the nose by a line drive. :lol: :lol: I do love that describtion.
But then I guess you have to be SOUTHERN BORN.. OH I DO LOVE THIS!!!! :lol: :lol:
BillsBonBon

I love okra every way, including raw with a dip....pickled like kosher dills, boiled in green beans so it's good & slimy :D , battered and fried and in gumbo....YEP, I'm southern born, but we had a young guy from East Germany stay with us for a month one summer and he loved okra, too. My grandkids cut their teeth on pickled okra.

For fried okra, I slice and marinate for a few minutes in buttermilk ( which I also love to drink), then shake in cornmeal and deep fry.

Love okra!!! Thanks for the recipes :D :D :D And I am a Northern girl, LMBO

I love Okra :D
This is how I eat it since I like to add more substance to mine.

Mexican Style Okra

Brown 1 lb of lean ground meat
Add garlic cloves (2)
1/4 tsp comino( if availble)
salt and pepper to taste

When meat is 1/2 way cooked add1/2 onion or more up tp your taste
1 fresh tomatoe. Cook until translucent.

Prior wash and cut okra into small bite size pieces.
Once onion and tomatoe is ready add okra stir getnly
Add 1 can of tomatoe sauce and 1 can of water and let simmer (med heat) until okra is soft. ( around 20 minutes)

Do not over stir are it can get ucky!!!!

Yummy!!!

I just had this last night and always enjoy this meal. It is kind of soupy so you can have cornbread or crackers or whatever you like with it. I like corn tortillas w/ mine.

This is a new one for me! I'm really anxious to try this. I've eaten and loved okra all my life...fried, boiled, pickled, okra and tomatoes(stewed?), and in gumbo...I love it raw, fresh picked from the garden. My grandmother's favorite way to use a few pods is also one I rather like too...when the peas (crowder, purplehull, blackeye, field) were cooked just done and still in the pot, she'd lay pods one top and put the lid back on and let them steam....no slime when you don't over cook...and oh my that brilliant shade of green is beautiful. To prevent okra slime in gumbo, I "fry" the okra first...use a non-stick skillet and the slightest bit of oil or spray...medium/high heat and keep stirring the cut okra...it will ooze the slime and the slime "strings" will disappear as you continue to stir... when the ooze and strings are all gone, you can add the okra to your done gumbo and it won't be overcooked or slimy but it will add some flavor and tooth to the gumbo! Okra is probably not a big favorite outside the South because it likes to grow in the heat...like cotton...and I think it is related to hibiscus... we don't even plant the seed until the ground is really warm because it won't really grow and bear well until the nights aren't cooling off...but I've seen it need to be picked twice a day and six feet tall and still bearing when the first killing frost hits it. It's very low in calories too!

Wow!!!
Great post Bobbinwinder....
Now maybe I have to try this next time with the Gumbo...
K

Yes, I did let some dry one year, and sprayed them gold...they were lovely. We've had such a miserable time with the vegetable gardening here the last few years...drought is terrible to deal with. Besides, I've been tending my fabric related addictions rather than the dirt related ones...LOL. It ceased to amaze me long ago what people will pay money for...and I'm as guilty as they come... can't recall selling anything that I ever made a real profit from.
There's an old heirloom okra that would be great for drying...it is certainly not good for eating imho...sometimes the seed catalogues will have it...it's called Cowhorn...it is big and the pods grow curved...hence, the name.

My family always grew okra and never had a problem with it being slimy. We lightly fried it (with no coating of any sort), then froze it for use in the winter with a tomato sauce based food. It never ever came out slimy or looking like anything being hit in the nose. Even my DH who I swear is the pickiest man on earth will eat okra now.

This whole thread has been quite amusing to me. Grew up in Tennessee I grew up eating boiled okra. Did not know there was any other way to eat it. When I went to college a friend of mine talked about fried okra. I had never heard of it. Asked my mom about it when I went home one weeek-end. She said why, of course you can fry okra. I love okra, fried, boiled, in soup, gumbo. JUst love it. Boiled okra is a true southern delicacy

I have never noticed a slime i use okra in my gumbo all the time also fry it , sometimes i start frying in iron skillet (breaded with cornmeal) a little shortning or veg. oil. brown some then put it oven with my cornbread to finish delious.

how true.

This is the best way to cook okra ever! Thank you so much. I live in Texas and we're big on fried okra here. Ive been cooking it all my life, in oil on the stove. I had 3 skillets of okra in the oven on Christmas day and it was great. I've cooked it once more since then. From now on this is the only way I'll be frying okra.
Thank you brendadawg

I was raised eating it and still love it. Grandma taught me to slice it, roll it in corn meal with just a hint of flour, salt and pepper, fry in bacon or sausage grease. Put on plate and surround it with fresh tomato slices!! Hot baking powder biscuits, peach or apple pie, cold butter milk and hot coffee for adults. That's mid day dinner or a later supper. And of course home made butter and jams or jellies for the biscuits.
I don't have any okra in the freezer, darnit!!

I love to fry the okra and add it as a topping to a bowl of gumbo...This is definitely a southern thing..

i use okra in a lot of my veg soups. or veg beef, or veg/chicken soup. just add some, don't get really carried away. my soup is never slimy. maybe 6-8 cut pods per pot of soup.
i grew up in the south, and it took my yankie husband yrs. to appreciate my okra and or veg soup.

Oh, that is so appetizing.....LOL And I love okra.

I love Okra cooked any way.