Purple Okra -- Delicious and Nutritious
Like many folks on the Shore, we love a garden, be it small or large. But it seems like there is never enough time to plan and plant in the middle of everything else that is always going on. Our entire garden, this year and most other years, got put in late. Because the Eastern Shore of Virginia has a very moderate climate and Northampton County, at its southern tip, has exceptionally sandy loam soils, a lot of folks here plant a wide variety of vegetables — beginning with cool type crops in early Spring, ending with fall cabbage, collards and broccoli, etc. which can winter over in the ground. Because of the Shore’s moderate climate, we can have a garden for all seasons and who doesn’t like something fresh-picked all year round ? We usually get organized too late for early lettuce, etc. and this year we were later than usual. So now, almost August, it’s too hot for the swiss chard which is finally the right size, what’s left of it. But the okra plants are coming right on along but are still too puny to really be cranking out the amount we need to give some away to friends who like it but don’t grow it and to fix a “good mess” for ourselves.
I’m originally from the North so it took me a while to get used to the fact that on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, a large pot or pan of certain foods is usually referred to as ” a mess” i.e., for dinner tonight I’m going to cook a mess of greens (collards, kale, mustards, etc) , or a mess of beans ( green, lima, butter, etc.) or, of course, a mess of okra. If you have never grown okra, it is a very striking plant — we always grow the purple variety, which looks even more dramatic. (The stalks are a deep, deep purple and the pods are purple as well, until they are cooked, when they turn green like their cousins.) About 5 to 6 feet tall at maturity, okra really stands out in a garden, towering over everybody else, master of its domain. The okra pods are a little prickly and, for simplicity, I always cut them off with a scissors, leaving a short stem at the end because for us, okra is a finger food.
Of course, once you harvest the okra, for the very best flavor, it should be cooked within a day. Washing okra is a pain because circling the top of each pod are little floppy things ( reminds me of hangnails) which need to be removed while washing, a bit time-consuming. There are of course a myriad of ways to cook okra but only one way is acceptable to me. I’m not big on slime and that includes slightly slimy okra. In my opinion, when okra is cooked in the more traditional ways, stewed with tomatoes for example or added to a gumbo, it gets a bit slimy. Not for me, not at all ! But I do love the flavor of fresh okra. So, to keep the flavor and cut the slime, I fry it. Now a lot of people cut okra into pieces, roll it in cornmeal and deep- fry it and I’ve eaten some mighty good deep- fried okra, crispy-crunchy. But, as Vinnie from Brooklyn asked the Alabama short order cook just as he was about to fry Vinnie’s eggs in a lake of Crisco, “Youse guys down here ever heard of the on-going cholesterol problem in the country ? ” (from one of my favorite comic movies, “My Cousin Vinnie”, starring Joe Pesci in his best performance, ever ).
Unfortunately (or fortunately, however ones sees it), we have heard of the on-going cholesterol problem at my house so we don’t usually deep- fry, not even to get crispy-crunchy cornmeal- battered okra. Which leaves my favorite way to fix okra. Heat a little olive oil in a saute pan till hot, throw in the okra and pan fry, uncovered, over medium heat. It’s important to keep turning frequently until done, which takes a while . ” Done” is when it has turned almost black, (not burned, just looking black, trust me here), black and shriveled looking. Because that is the secret– the dry heat dehydrates the okra, evaporating the slimy feel, leaving only delicious, nutritious okra which you then devour, picking up each pod by the little stem you left when harvesting it. Thank heavens the okra is doing fine because just writing this blog post made me want to cook up a mess for dinner tonight.