Okra, lady fingers, or bhindi, call them what you want, are the tasty fruits of a malvacea, Abelmoschus esculentus, particularly used in African and Asian cuisines.
We distinguish between exotic vegetables for their ease of preparation and their many benefits, especially due to the great richness of mucilage in the form of gel, which gives them not only the typical properties of vegetables but also some of those we look for in plants aromatic.
We see a series of easy vegan recipes that are easy to do at home to begin to become familiar with this vegetable that we can nowadays find in the ethnic markets, where they supply Arabs, Chinese, Indians and Africans.
Okra masala
Let's start with a recipe of Indian origin, or better, a masala, or vegetables cooked in a sauce composed of a complex mixture of spices.
In this simplified version we will do without rare spices such as garam masal a, fenugreek leaves and dried mango powder.
Ingredients
> 200 gr of okra;
> 1 onion;
> 2 medium tomatoes;
> 2 cloves of garlic;
> ginger powder;
> chilli pepper;
> coriander powder;
> turmeric;
> olive oil.
Preparation
Wash and dry the okra. Remove the stalk and cut each okra into two or three pieces . Cut the onions into slices and chop the tomatoes.
Crush the garlic together with half a teaspoon of ginger . In a non-stick pan, fry our okra in olive oil lightly, when cooked, remove it and put the onion and garlic crushed with ginger in their place.
Add the tomatoes and half a cup of water . Slowly add all the spices, stir, and after 5 minutes add the fried okra and bring everything to the end of cooking.
Stuffed Okra
Exotic recipe based on okra, coconut flour and peanuts (replaceable with other seeds like cashews or pistachios). Original and very good.
Ingredients
> 200 g of medium-sized okra;
> 1 green pepper;
> 3 tablespoons of peanuts;
> 3 or 4 cloves of garlic;
> dried bay leaves;
> chilli pepper;
> 2 tablespoons of coconut flour;
> mustard seeds;
> olive oil;
> turmeric;
> 1 lemon.
Preparation
We will chop our peanuts, preferably salted, without burning them . We will take the well washed okra and we will practice on each of them a vertical cut, only on one side, removing the contained seeds.
In a tureen we will mix the chopped peanuts with the finely chopped chilli and garlic, the chopped bay leaf, the coconut flour, a teaspoon of turmeric, the juice of a lemon.
After mixing and making everything homogeneous we will fill the okra. Lightly bread our okra in mustard seeds and put them in a pan with a little oil.
At this point we will add a glass of water, cover the pan or the pot and let it stew. After about a quarter of an hour the dish is ready.
Okra in batter
A version adapted to our latitudes of a dish based on okra typical of some Muslim countries. We will replace the exotic legume flour with the chickpea flour.
Ingredients
> 200 g of okra;
> 1/2 cup of chickpea flour;
> chili powder;
> coriander powder;
> olive oil;
> fresh ginger;
> lemon;
> mint.
Preparation
Simple recipe. Prepare a batter with water, chickpea flour, a teaspoon of coriander.
Immerse the washed, dried and cut okra lengthwise. Put them to cook in a ditto of warm olive oil. Remove when they are crunchy.
Season with lemon juice and chilli to taste, small pieces of fresh ginger and mint leaves. Only salt at the end.
Okra and potatoes
Simple, tasty and fast, with a preliminary preparation to extract the mucilages .
Ingredients
> 200 gr of okra;
> 2 large potatoes;
> 1 onion;
> 2 cloves of garlic;
> black pepper;
> walnuts;
> olive oil.
Preparation
We will cut the okra into pieces, cover them with water and leave them in the fridge overnight. In this way we will extract the mucilaginous gel and the okra will be easier to cook.
We will be the potatoes, and once they are ready we will skip them for 10 minutes in a drizzle of olive oil with the finely chopped okra, onion, garlic and black pepper.
The potatoes will tend to fall apart, making the whole thing rather homogeneous. Turn off the heat and add salt and nuts.
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