What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Jenise]

Over here racks are virtually never cut up by the butcher, they're only sold whole for you to cut yourself or not. Easily done, but not an OTC option.

Finally ate some okra. Ordered a vegan okra-tomato dish--they were tiny, pencil-thin okras--at an Indian restaurant last week. Bob loves okra and it seemed a good idea to widen that horizon a bit after us talking about okra here. So today I stirred the doggy-bag leftovers of that into cabbage stir fried with cumin seed for a lunch meal. And now I don't feel so great. I don't think the dish was tainted, it's just that the Indian flavors are so strong and about three bites into it I didn't want it anymore (what I really wanted was chicken noodle soup). I felt that way after our dinner last week, too--told Bob it would probably be another year before I ask for Indian food again.

Sorry Jenise, and I do not understand the pencil thin okra, have never seen those. I buy them in season at Farmers Market and they are so good. I love the ones with the purple cast to them.

Okra tastes OK -- it's green -- but the texture is off-putting. I have much the same attitude, though different particulars, with fiddleheads.

I have a different reason for not having Indian food often. For some reason after the first meal I get an intense craving for more and I binge cook large amounts for days on end. It’s my husband that finally says “ Enough !”

[Jenise]

Sorry Jenise, and I do not understand the pencil thin okra, have never seen those. I buy them in season at Farmers Market and they are so good. I love the ones with the purple cast to them.

These were cut into segments so I have no idea about length except to extrapolate 'short', 3" at best, based on their diameters which were less than 1/2". I've never seen okra that small before.

And Jeff, I'm where you are. The flavor is good, but even expertly prepared I didn't love the texture.

[Jenise]

I have a different reason for not having Indian food often. For some reason after the first meal I get an intense craving for more and I binge cook large amounts for days on end. It’s my husband that finally says “ Enough !”

Actually, that's usually my reaction. This time, though, no. Something that always gets to me is the lack of lighter, lower-carb, salad-y dishes in the Indian repertoire. Even in an evolved, creative restaurant like Vikram Vij's which avoids the standards--at least as one typically encounters them--there's an absence of ways to lighten up your meal. And I submit to you that even with the background about heat and lack of refrigeration that is the foundation of why Indian food is what it is, it would not be sacrilege to innovate in a new direction based on local plenty. After all, they didn't leave the ice out of my Raja gin-and-tonic, did they?

In her Indian cookbook Neelam Batra says to shop for smaller okra. The larger ones are harvested later and tend to be tougher. Sort of like the situation with zucchini.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

That's what I understand too. 3" length is not unusual, but the thinness of these we had in that curry was definitely a surprise.

Thawing on the counter: lobster tails. On standby: fresh fennel and reperso rice. Risotto coming!

These were cut into segments so I have no idea about length except to extrapolate 'short', 3" at best, based on their diameters which were less than 1/2". I've never seen okra that small before.

I don't know if it's 'traditional' but an Indian restaurant near us in Chapel Hill makes a delicious 'crispy okra' dish where the okra is cut into tiny thin strips and then lightly fried. So good. My vegetable-averse son actually enjoys it, because who doesn't like fried foods. But it's not heavy with breading or greasy, just enough to crisp it and give it great texture.

These were cut into segments so I have no idea about length except to extrapolate 'short', 3" at best, based on their diameters which were less than 1/2". I've never seen okra that small before.

I don't know if it's 'traditional' but an Indian restaurant near us in Chapel Hill makes a delicious 'crispy okra' dish where the okra is cut into tiny thin strips and then lightly fried. So good. My vegetable-averse son actually enjoys it, because who doesn't like fried foods. But it's not heavy with breading or greasy, just enough to crisp it and give it great texture.

This has spurred a question: Has anybody ever encountered okra tempura? Is that a thing?

This has spurred a question: Has anybody ever encountered okra tempura? Is that a thing?

Google turns up some hits. And also suggests that okra arrived in Japan several hundred years ago (from America) and has developed a following. It certainly makes sense that people who enjoy natto wouldn't object to the okra slime!

Pizza is on my menu tonight. I buy a fresh gourmet vegetarian pizza and do my add on ingredients, which is usually cherry tomatoes, Sierra Nevada Zesty peppers, pizza spice from Penzeys, along with a fresh green salad with red lettuce, cukes, green onion and avocado, with an orange vinargrette. I visit Cafe Sucre, a cool website by a really cool couple. The she (Chris) is a master at developing salad dressings, all of them are great and I use them all the time.

[Jenise]

It certainly makes sense that people who enjoy natto wouldn't object to the okra slime!

So true that!

When I buy okra, it is from the Farmer's Market, and I fry it with a coating until very crisp. I don't seem to be bothered by this slime thing being mentioned here. As I said, I prefer the okra with a purple cast to them. Are there different varieties of okra? I only cook it once or twice a year, and I give a basket to another family across the street as the husband loves it.

[Jenise]

Yesterday, with a tray of Thai basil about to go bad on me, I riffed on a Taiwanese dish called Three Cup Chicken (per Milk Street, I'm no authority) which called for three cups of basil, 12 cloves of garlic and 1/4 c grated ginger. That's a lot more garlic and ginger than I would have put into any Chinese dish, which I was super curious about. (I'm never someone you'd accuse of underseasoning so it's not like I had to be pushed off the ledge, but still that's A LOT.) The dish turned out great, I was actually surprised that the garlic and ginger weren't over the top but in fact well-suited to all that basil.

I also have Thai basil about to time out and so I'll be making Thai stir-fried chicken with bird chiles and basil. The original calls for holy basil leaves (bai krapow) but that's next to impossible to get fresh because it has no shelf life and starts wilting as soon as it's harvested. So I use Thai sweet basil (bai horapa) and add some dried holy basil leaves to give it some of that flavor.

-Paul W.

When I buy okra, it is from the Farmer's Market, and I fry it with a coating until very crisp. I don't seem to be bothered by this slime thing being mentioned here. As I said, I prefer the okra with a purple cast to them. Are there different varieties of okra? I only cook it once or twice a year, and I give a basket to another family across the street as the husband loves it.

I am no expert but a quick google shows that there are dozens of cultivars, many are fully red or purple. The most common variety in the market is Clemson Spineless, which gives green pods about 5" long.

That's where my page-skimming ends. But I will say that I doubt I have ever seen an okra pod as long as 5" -- I think they're mostly 3" in markets here.

I made a quick tomato sauce tonight: "Campari" tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, rosemary, bay leaf, olive oil, a few olives, a dash of balsamic, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, s+p. Guest star ingredient: a few slices of speck. Over cascatelli. So juicy and fresh.

I grew okra one year. The blossoms are just gorgeous. So enamored was I that I neglected to harvest the developing fruit. There were a few 4 and 5” pods that were so fibrously tough none of my knives could cut. At least for the variety you mention Jeff long does not mean better. An Indian friend advises hand picking the smaller pods in the grocery store bin for the best okra.

An Indian friend advises hand picking the smaller pods in the grocery store bin for the best okra.

That sounds like a good tip!

[Jenise]

I made a quick tomato sauce tonight: "Campari" tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, rosemary, bay leaf, olive oil, a few olives, a dash of balsamic, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, s+p. Guest star ingredient: a few slices of speck. Over cascatelli. So juicy and fresh.

Love sauces like this.

On the stove right now, that smoked pork/fennel sauce I had planned to make yesterday but didn't. Not eating at home tonight, but it will be ready to go over the weekend.

Chicken legs and thighs, marinated in buttermilk and Tabasco for 2 days, then coated with Oven Fry and fresh rosemary, garlic powder.Roasted to yummyness. Made a pasta side, using Conchiglie, butter, lemon zest and juice, with garlic. Plus, my usual array of roasted veggies, which this week was., two types of squash, red onion, variety of peppers, dressed with fresh garlic oil, citrus sea salt and red pepper flakes.

[Jenise]

Karen, I don't do a coating but I picked up that buttermilk/Tabasco trick from you years ago and have repeated it many times! Didn't cook at home last night. Will tonight but no ideas yet--it's Meatless Monday. Might go ratatouille as I have some Chinese eggplant to use.

Jenise, years ago when I stopped frying chicken, I looked for some way to do it without the oil. I discovered Oven Fry and have used it since. They now have it for pork, and I hear from some who eat a lot of fish that it is their "go to" choice for fish. It is so easy for me, as I do not like the egg, flour, bread coating job. Too messy! I do not do much breading of food but when I do it is a nice treat.