I love okra! Although its texture is often named as a dislike, it’s actually my favorite part. The little bit of slime (for lack of a better word…) reminds me of chia seeds. Plus I love the okra flavor.
My very old recipe for Better Than Fried Okra remains my favorite way to prepare the vegetable. Although sometimes I just grill or roast up a batch of whole pods and eat them like fries!
We brought home a huge box of leftovers from our dinner at Old City BBQ, and I bought some okra to make as a side. Imagine my surprise when I realized we were all out of cornmeal! So I improvised and decided to try the recipe with panko instead. Turned out quite nice — and extra crunchy!
Just like the old recipe, I dipped the okra pieces in egg mixed with a splash of milk, and then rolled them in the panko, which was first seasoned with pinches of smoked paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, and salt.
The pieces went on a sheet pan covered in parchment paper and baked at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, until the panko was crunchy and golden brown.
I think my favorite part was that some of them clustered together like a clustery granola and you could pop them in as one big bite!
Served with leftovers of all.the.meats (although I did not eat everything here — we just heated up everything to taste!)
After two days in a row of heavy meat eating I was craving a good vegan meal, so I hit up The Juice Laundry for a big green coco verde smoothie bowl : )
And speaking of things that are green…..guess who got a brand new bike!!!
It’s his birthday present, but since his loaner bike petered out on him, we decided that, given the warm weather, it was best to give him his gift early. Mommy was a bit nervous about switching from pedal to hand brakes (visions of him rolling through stop signs haunted my thoughts) but he got the hang of the hand breaks in about two seconds. He’s a natural biker boy! It has been so fun to ride together.
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
Oh my God. I’ve been on an okra obsession lately – just plain boiled okra because I sort of love the slimey texture. I can’t believe someone else agrees with me, my boyfriend is utterly against okra!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Linda @ the Fitty says
Okra is really popular in Nigerian dishes to thicken sauces and soups too!
Carrie this fit chick says
Its always fun getting birthday gifts early, heh! I LOVE okra and I feel like not enough people know about it- at least over in California. Pickled okra is my favorite!
Paula Clark says
I happen to LOVE raw okra, sliced up in a salad or just munched on out in the garden. But I love it cooked too any way it’s done.
KathEats says
I don’t think I’ve had it raw! gotta try that next time
Kelli @ Hungry Hobby says
okra reminds me of my grandma, she always got frozen okra and made pan fried it with some sort of breading in obscene amounts of butter/lard. This looks much healthier!
Lisa says
YUM! so hard to get it to stick though. P.S. It’s only Thursday!!
KathEats says
I had to move the post up a day! You must be coming from a RSS reader though because I fixed that this morning : )
Sharon says
Breading it about 30 minutes before you are ready to cook it and letting it sit helps with that.
Tracy says
Oh my gosh how fun!! Love love the green bike! I wish I had a biker buddy. Have fun with that sweet guy 🙂
Melissa says
I’ve only had okra several years ago and wasn’t all that fond of it, but this recipe sounds great and as though I’d probably become an okra fan after having it! I’ll definitely be trying it soon!
Tahir says
I love okra. Its very popular in india!
I. Will post a nice recipe next time.
Thanks.
Ahmed
Melissa | HerGreenLife says
Yay for the new bike! And props for getting a real bike store bike! My son is ready for something bigger, size-wise, but he’s still not really riding yet, so I’m not ready to make the investment.
Mary says
Is okra hard to find outside of the Southeast? We live in SoCal, and I can’t remember ever seeing it at the farmer’s market . . .
KathEats says
I’m not sure! It’s not all that common here – a bit elusive to find.
Megan Davis says
Thanks a lot for this recipe. I’m so happy because I just like Okra. ?I will definitely try this.