Okra is a staple ingredient for Southern gumbo. It thickens it up, and is one of the few natural thickeners around. I can't imagine making it without any okra.
@@razorransom1795 you can’t use tomatillo to make gumbo. Then it wouldn’t be gumbo. It’s called gumbo because the common word for okra in Africa is gumbo. Gumbo was a soup that was brought to America by slaves. Gumbo was a soup that they made back in Africa. Gumbo changed after it came here because the slaves in New Orleans learned French style cooking so that’s what makes soul food in new Orleans different from the rest of the south.
@@myrtlebeachpimp just giving an alternative with similar properties, sorry to offend. Okra is awesome in its own right, but was just saying that could maybe work too.😔
@@myrtlebeachpimp Pretty sure if you make gumbo with all the works and just add tomatillos it doesn't suddenly become a totally different dish that can't be called gumbo. People can use whatever they want and the culture around cooking gumbo for the last 100 years has been: use whatever's available to you. So nobody really cares about your semantics argument when there are always ways to personally improve upon traditional recipes and cater them to your individual preferences. That's the point of cooking
@Glenn Draper Most thickeners are natural. Flour, Agar, various starches, and more. In fact, I can't think of any that are unnatural, and I've worked professionally in a few quite nice kitchens
i actually like texture contrast between the crunchy yet slimy okra LOL. I'm from Hong Kong and it's often stir-fried with other vegetables or meats and because it's not a water-based method, it doesn't get as slimy.
In Nigeria we just boil and season the okra to make it into a kind of soup/stew and we like the slime and it's been eaten like that forever. It might also be that we are used to it because we have other soups/stews that are slimy like okra, but okra is the most slimiest one. And it's not just us, a few other west African countries eat it like that.
For those who don't like mucilage, just don't cut the okra. I take off only the tip of the cut, wash it well and sauté it with garlic, in olive oil or canola. It still contains the mucilage that is good for us, because it "wraps" sugars and thus reduces blood sugar spikes.
These big Okras are fibrous and slimy, however the smaller ones are much better and even though they are not as slimy as the big ones, it would be advisable to remove the end and deep fry them after washing them, once deep friend they would no longer produce any slime, then you cook it with tomato sauce, onion, garlic.
Also cut up Okra, toss with salt & pepper, then air fry for about 10 to 15 minutes (based on your prefs), gets rid of the slime and makes them super crispy with a lot of flavor. It dehydrates them quite a bit but if you like them crispy its good. It looks like they might be burnt but the blackened okra skin doesn't taste charred, it just has a lot of flavor.
Thanks for the great tips of vinegar and salt and some naturally acidic foods to reduce the “slime” factor. I’ll try this the next time I make gumbo. Greetings from Maine.
If u lightly fry it in a tiny bit of oil, all in a single layer, before cooking it and let it cook on its own with onions and tomatoes without adding any water it doesn't get slimy either. Perfect every time.
In India we wash the okra, wipe them off and then dry roast them in a pan on low heat for about 5-7 mins till the edges get slightly browned. after that you can use even in soups and it wont get slimy. Roasting dries the mucilage.
I LOVE okra. The other day we made a bunch of okra and had some leftover juice with a few pieces.. I added a bunch of salt and pepper and drank the slime.. It was like nature came in my mouth with salty and peppery loveliness!
We call it Oh-Kruh on the other side of the pond heh. I love its slimy texture tho and use okra as a bit of a base for sauces or in place of eggs or mayo in mashed tatoes (it makes the tatoes creamier) or other things. With somethin like flour or potatoes or rice to soak up some of that slime tho, the stuff is delish. But I love slimy textures in foods anyway heh
Fascinating. I love okra (have only had it deep fried), but that subtle sliminess has always been the one thing I disliked about it. Glad to know there's a way to beat it now.
To cook it without soaking just make sure it’s dry ie no contact with water while cooking... best way to do it is wash and dry them before cutting.. add oil and necessary spices and fry them then you can add other ingredients
I’ve never tried that. I usually steam the okra pods whole, hold the stem, dip a pod in a sauce, and bite off the pod. Still slimy but less so than usual. Must see if the salt and vinegar really works for me.
I also heard that by reducing the number of times you cut the okra the slime is reduced. I only cut the back of it very close to the stem. Also i dont overcook it.
well fancy that, who’d have ever thought okra is a “mediterranean” food. With all the marketing buzz around the “mediterranean diet” in America these days targeting “health foodies”, okra still seems to get short shrift. Too funny. I’ve always thought of it purely as a southern U.S. food and had no idea that it was grown elsewhere. Yay for educationals!
Pretty cool. I'm a cook and know everything= never heard of that either. Would also be a thought to maybe de-seed it, as I don't find the seeds particularly appealing anyways, a lot of Jalapeno's.
Just fry your okra without closing the lid and don't add water. However, if you want to anything with a thick liquid consistency, like soups or curries, use the okra's sliminess as a thickening agent. North Indian dishes have fried dry okra, meanwhile the classic South India dish Sambar which you have with dosa, is excellent when you add okra in it.
Gumbo thickened two ways: Okra (gumbo is the African word for okra), used with chicken/sausage or seafood and a Roux to make Creole gumbo that has no okra and is usually only make with seafood. In SE Louisiana we eat it in gumbo or boiled, or fried, or smothered with onions and tomato, and even on top of a pot of fresh field peas AKA cow peas. The slime is unique and part of the variety of life; embrace the slime!
I stir fry pat dried and cut okra with minimum oil for two minutes then add seasonings , fresh herbs,salt, onions then cover it and cook on low heat for five minutes checking stirring in between.
The same tricks (vinegar and salt soak, and cooking with tomatoes) are used in southern US cooking; the okra was presumably brought by African slaves, who combined it with the tomatoes native to the Americas. It's interesting to see essentially the same preparation is traditional to Cyprus.
There are some nutritional benefits of okra to make such cooking tips handy to help make eating it easier for those who don’t like slime and don’t want fried
In Indian bhindi masala recipes I’ve tried, it's stir fried first until it browns in spots then cooked in a gravy and it's not slimy. In Japan however most people prefer it sliced and served over rice deliberately slimy, like natto beans. I like both.
That’s why you should flour and fry it. Most are deep fried but the best way is to pan fry it in left over chicken grease until surface is crispy. The four should have salt, pepper and your choice of spice. Corn mill can be used but but in my opinion not as good.
My Indian mother wash and clean woth cotton cloth thoroughly and not leaving on any water on the skin, then cut em nicely and saute it with onion and tomato and half a spoon of lemon juice ( optional) with or without it you would never get any slime. But the trick is you dont leave any water on skin or let it dry nicely before cutting process.
What you on about? It's common here. Here I make okra/bindi/ladyfinger curry, I don't mix it hard and once ot cools it's fine. Then reheat as no slime!
if you don't like it's slimyness then try cooking it the indian way. we make it in two ways and both are not slimy at all. we cook veggies to eat them with capati that's why our cooked veggies contains little more spices so that it balances the flavour when ate with daal, chapati and rice.
2000 miles eh? Could have went to Mississippi and just learned to pan (or deep) fry the stuff. Very tasty. EDIT: 4:10 Thought he said he went to ''a cajun college'' at first 😆
In stews & gumbos---which I love---that "slime" is considered an essential thickening agent, but just braised okra by itself?!? I'll pass...🤢 I too am weird about texture.
Don't want it to get slimy? Chop and stirfry with spices till its all dehydrated and also make pakodas or tempuras out of it and there's no question of it getting slimy. Tip: You may leave the chopped lady fingers spread across for a while or for a few hours to get it a bit dehydrated before stir frying.
How my mom taught me to cook okra in Pakistani dishes is: 1. Don't add water when sauteing, (for stews water is fine) 2. Don't stir it too much I'm actually surprised, how did you manage to make okra look so slimy?
Okra is a staple ingredient for Southern gumbo. It thickens it up, and is one of the few natural thickeners around. I can't imagine making it without any okra.
Well otherwise can use tomatillos, low flavor just like zuchinni in that retrospect, and also used as a natural sauce thickner.
@@razorransom1795 you can’t use tomatillo to make gumbo. Then it wouldn’t be gumbo. It’s called gumbo because the common word for okra in Africa is gumbo. Gumbo was a soup that was brought to America by slaves. Gumbo was a soup that they made back in Africa. Gumbo changed after it came here because the slaves in New Orleans learned French style cooking so that’s what makes soul food in new Orleans different from the rest of the south.
@@myrtlebeachpimp just giving an alternative with similar properties, sorry to offend. Okra is awesome in its own right, but was just saying that could maybe work too.😔
@@myrtlebeachpimp Pretty sure if you make gumbo with all the works and just add tomatillos it doesn't suddenly become a totally different dish that can't be called gumbo. People can use whatever they want and the culture around cooking gumbo for the last 100 years has been: use whatever's available to you. So nobody really cares about your semantics argument when there are always ways to personally improve upon traditional recipes and cater them to your individual preferences. That's the point of cooking
@Glenn Draper Most thickeners are natural. Flour, Agar, various starches, and more. In fact, I can't think of any that are unnatural, and I've worked professionally in a few quite nice kitchens
i actually like texture contrast between the crunchy yet slimy okra LOL. I'm from Hong Kong and it's often stir-fried with other vegetables or meats and because it's not a water-based method, it doesn't get as slimy.
Hahaha exactly , thats why it tastes so good.
One of the best vegetable dishes I've tasted. 😊
same. in malaysia it's quite staple in our culture. slimy and crunchy. usually served in curry.
Do you eat squid and eel as well??
Okra is super healthy too! I could bake it and eat it.
This might be one of the most useful episodes in everyday cooking.
Except many people do actually prefer it slimy though.
In Nigeria we just boil and season the okra to make it into a kind of soup/stew and we like the slime and it's been eaten like that forever. It might also be that we are used to it because we have other soups/stews that are slimy like okra, but okra is the most slimiest one. And it's not just us, a few other west African countries eat it like that.
Tell them
Adding shrimp would that be luxury?
I love fried okra! My mom was from Eastern Texas, and apparently they eat a lot of it.
For those who don't like mucilage, just don't cut the okra. I take off only the tip of the cut, wash it well and sauté it with garlic, in olive oil or canola. It still contains the mucilage that is good for us, because it "wraps" sugars and thus reduces blood sugar spikes.
Thanks for the tip!
Stay away from canola and all seed oils! That's what clogs your arteries.
As a Jamaican, okra is a staple. The sliminess is the best part 😋😋
I'm Jamaica and I hate it with passion
@@kinishamills 🤣🤣 I'm taking your jamaican card from you!!!
Im Haitian but I like eating whole okra…no cutting
If you pickle okra, it's not slimy
@@True2U08lmao
My Aunt down South would bread it in Corn Meal and pan fry it.
That method makes it crunchy as fried potatoes.👍🏽
I like okra, whether it's slimy or not. Just boil me some nice and slimy and I'm happy, or fry me some that's not slimy at all and I'm happy. :)
I love having it boiled eaten with rice and spicy shrimp paste on the side
I went to North Carolina and found Southern food to be a wonderful surprise. Plus the people were so friendly.
Thankyou!!!! Have a blessed day!
Hairy, slimy, and phallic, let's call it lady fingers.
Me: That's not lady fingers, that's a co..
very tasteful thank you
Bahahahah
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
These big Okras are fibrous and slimy, however the smaller ones are much better and even though they are not as slimy as the big ones, it would be advisable to remove the end and deep fry them after washing them, once deep friend they would no longer produce any slime, then you cook it with tomato sauce, onion, garlic.
I feel sliminess is what makes okra nice, like bitterness of coffee, sourness of lemon, and spiciness of chili.
Yes and such an extreme texture provides an opportunity to balance it with others like the crunchiness of fried batter or the softness of sushi rice.
You need help. I’m serious. Get help!
Not at all the case.
@@stefanos2620, lol ikr... that's just horrible
@@stefanos2620 Wait what? Where was the issue
When he said the acid cuts the PH value I just had to laugh at the similarities 😂
In India we add just a spoon of curd( yogurt) it is lactic acid, now I understood science behind the delicious secret
In the Southern USA states it is pronounced, "Oak-Ra"... and usually breaded and pan fried... gets rid of the slimy and down to the yummy!
It’s usually pronounced that way in the uk too 🤣
In Australia we pronounce it the way it's spelt..
I prefer it pickled, but fried is good too. :)
I love fried okra
or pickled. I love pickled Okra.
Also cut up Okra, toss with salt & pepper, then air fry for about 10 to 15 minutes (based on your prefs), gets rid of the slime and makes them super crispy with a lot of flavor. It dehydrates them quite a bit but if you like them crispy its good. It looks like they might be burnt but the blackened okra skin doesn't taste charred, it just has a lot of flavor.
I love okra so much. I think more people should try it
Thanks for the great tips of vinegar and salt and some naturally acidic foods to reduce the “slime” factor. I’ll try this the next time I make gumbo. Greetings from Maine.
Add lemon juice in the cooking process does the same trick.
I was actually gonna say this, I’m from Dominican Republic and mom cuts it really thin and adds lemon and it’s not slimy at all.
@@JangelNolasco same. And Ola fellow DRnitano. Aha
its almost like, vinegar is an acid, and lemon juice is also an acid.
If u lightly fry it in a tiny bit of oil, all in a single layer, before cooking it and let it cook on its own with onions and tomatoes without adding any water it doesn't get slimy either. Perfect every time.
That is how we prepare it in southern India. The slimy texture is not so appetizing for many people..
yay another video in Cyprus, my homeland🇨🇾 and i looooove my giagia’s (grandma) pambia giahni, (the dish the chef made)
I'm in Cyprus are you in Australia or UK 🤔
Also in greece we marinade them with vinegar before cooking them!
I love ordering okra at Indian restaurants. I forget the exact name of the dish, but it makes my tummy very happy 😋
That's something! We also eat it in our part of the world but in a different way. That's the beauty of it. One ingredient but many ways of cooking it.
How do you eat it?
In India we wash the okra, wipe them off and then dry roast them in a pan on low heat for about 5-7 mins till the edges get slightly browned. after that you can use even in soups and it wont get slimy. Roasting dries the mucilage.
Try eating fresh raw okra,it's not slimy but sweet, crunchy and tasty by itself with nothing added. Fresh raw corn on the cob is the same way!😋
In Nigeria we actually like it with the slime. "Ilaa"
In some parts of India, we use the juice of tamarind to remove the slime.. the tartaric acid in tamarind acts similar to the acetic acid in vinegar...
Cooked right and it's good even slimey
I LOVE okra. The other day we made a bunch of okra and had some leftover juice with a few pieces.. I added a bunch of salt and pepper and drank the slime.. It was like nature came in my mouth with salty and peppery loveliness!
Hmmmm
From what I've heard in Japan they like slimy okra. Definitely an acquired taste.
What kind of vinegar should you use?
okra stew is one of my favorites
We call it Oh-Kruh on the other side of the pond heh.
I love its slimy texture tho and use okra as a bit of a base for sauces or in place of eggs or mayo in mashed tatoes (it makes the tatoes creamier) or other things.
With somethin like flour or potatoes or rice to soak up some of that slime tho, the stuff is delish.
But I love slimy textures in foods anyway heh
We call it that in England too, think he’s saying it like that for a bet 🤣
Fascinating. I love okra (have only had it deep fried), but that subtle sliminess has always been the one thing I disliked about it. Glad to know there's a way to beat it now.
To cook it without soaking just make sure it’s dry ie no contact with water while cooking... best way to do it is wash and dry them before cutting.. add oil and necessary spices and fry them then you can add other ingredients
I’ve never tried that. I usually steam the okra pods whole, hold the stem, dip a pod in a sauce, and bite off the pod. Still slimy but less so than usual. Must see if the salt and vinegar really works for me.
I also heard that by reducing the number of times you cut the okra the slime is reduced. I only cut the back of it very close to the stem. Also i dont overcook it.
btw this got filmed 2017 is season 12 episode 3 or 4 that why nobody got mask most of the episode shown here are older episode
Nobody cares.
Go search for KURKURI BHINDI a different recipe to make okra crispy
Arre wah Bharatiya aa gaye
Southern way...okra and stewed tomatoes over rice. Lemon, bay leaf, salt and pepper, touch of hot sauce! Oh, and cornbread!
Southern?
@@jackholmes225 yes, recipes going back to pre-Revolutionary days.
@@TheFULLMETALCHEF sorry, i was asking southern where? Cyprus?
@@jackholmes225 Southern USA. Okra was brought from Africa and made it into classical Southern cuisine. Very important to Cajun and Creole recipes.
@@TheFULLMETALCHEF Its "soul food" that is like turnip greens....all southerners are required to eat some. 👍😀
well fancy that, who’d have ever thought okra is a “mediterranean” food. With all the marketing buzz around the “mediterranean diet” in America these days targeting “health foodies”, okra still seems to get short shrift. Too funny. I’ve always thought of it purely as a southern U.S. food and had no idea that it was grown elsewhere. Yay for educationals!
Pretty cool. I'm a cook and know everything= never heard of that either. Would also be a thought to maybe de-seed it, as I don't find the seeds particularly appealing anyways, a lot of Jalapeno's.
In India there is a way in which you can cook they turn crunchy rather than slimy . That thing tastes delicious with roti .
Mum is always right
I've never had Ocra, but now I'm ready for it XD
Just fry your okra without closing the lid and don't add water. However, if you want to anything with a thick liquid consistency, like soups or curries, use the okra's sliminess as a thickening agent. North Indian dishes have fried dry okra, meanwhile the classic South India dish Sambar which you have with dosa, is excellent when you add okra in it.
Thank god I am an Indian. I feel our dish is the best.
Gumbo thickened two ways: Okra (gumbo is the African word for okra), used with chicken/sausage or seafood and a Roux to make Creole gumbo that has no okra and is usually only make with seafood. In SE Louisiana we eat it in gumbo or boiled, or fried, or smothered with onions and tomato, and even on top of a pot of fresh field peas AKA cow peas. The slime is unique and part of the variety of life; embrace the slime!
incredible tip, can't wait to give it a go
How did you like it
Okra is use to thicken curry gravy in my country.
I stir fry pat dried and cut okra with minimum oil for two minutes then add seasonings , fresh herbs,salt, onions then cover it and cook on low heat for five minutes checking stirring in between.
Aaahh, this makes me very happy! Definitely going to buy Okra again now! 😊👍
1:30 🤣 *crickets screeching*
The same tricks (vinegar and salt soak, and cooking with tomatoes) are used in southern US cooking; the okra was presumably brought by African slaves, who combined it with the tomatoes native to the Americas. It's interesting to see essentially the same preparation is traditional to Cyprus.
In India okra is a staple (for some cuisine) when in season. We use dry unripe mango powder. Go to any Indian store and ask for amchur.
Why would you boil okra?
There are some nutritional benefits of okra to make such cooking tips handy to help make eating it easier for those who don’t like slime and don’t want fried
In Indian bhindi masala recipes I’ve tried, it's stir fried first until it browns in spots then cooked in a gravy and it's not slimy. In Japan however most people prefer it sliced and served over rice deliberately slimy, like natto beans. I like both.
wrong ...i m an india ...a bengali...and we love okra with slime ...we steam ...we stew...dont speak for all indians ...india is diverse.
@@baishalideb5565 thank you for the input. You’re right, I should change that statement to make it sound less generalised.
I am so grateful for this show. I have learned so much. Please continue !!!!
I always have this issue with canned okra, going to have to try this
Boil it properly then dip it either in a vinegar mixture sauce or shrimp paste. Yummy!!!
Tender okra doesn't require much cooking, if they're kept whole and doesn't burst during cooking they're usually not slimy
I thought that it was so sweet when he said he didn't learn that secret at University.
I love Okra, it's so yummy.
Never had okra that is not slimy before, definitely going to try this hack.
That’s why you should flour and fry it. Most are deep fried but the best way is to pan fry it in left over chicken grease until surface is crispy. The four should have salt, pepper and your choice of spice. Corn mill can be used but but in my opinion not as good.
My Indian mother wash and clean woth cotton cloth thoroughly and not leaving on any water on the skin, then cut em nicely and saute it with onion and tomato and half a spoon of lemon juice ( optional) with or without it you would never get any slime. But the trick is you dont leave any water on skin or let it dry nicely before cutting process.
Love okra also frozen okra has more slime
"Medi-okra" 😂
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for sharing your family secret with us. 😊👍
I didn't know that people hated the sliminess. It's the best part for me lol
Ew
@@davidthedeafTranslation "ew" to English = "that one"
Thanks youtube! ...
In our gumbo we make a delicious sauce out of it with some good pieces of meat on top of rice and it tastes amazing 👌
Oh and with smoked chicken it tastes the best !
I eat it twenty years ago in Egypt, I haven't missed it.
Okra with meat cooking. Delicious. People in Brazil love okra, called quiabo.
I love okra!!!!! I love it!!!!! Oh the sliminess is like nopales (cactus) I love it
This I have to try!
Okra is one of my favourite vegetables, it cheap and a lot of beneficial health. Help you when you had constipation.
Will definitely try the vinegar +salt hack the next time I'm preparing okra the slimminess🤮
Cook with anything acidic like tomatoes and the slime goes away.
A lot of Nigerian dishes boil okra into soups and add diced tomatoes. But the soups are still slimey.
My favorite thing in the whole world is dipping raw okra into homemade piping hot teriyaki sauce.
How do you get that thing that slimy? I never had any that was this slimy
Didn't know Okra is also known as lady's fingers lol WHY
More like bird’s claws to me
Finger shaped and slimy if not handled properly.
flash boiling, minimize sliminess.
It is amusing seeing Brits' reaction to Okra. The slime is part of the fun.
What you on about? It's common here. Here I make okra/bindi/ladyfinger curry, I don't mix it hard and once ot cools it's fine. Then reheat as no slime!
if you don't like it's slimyness then try cooking it the indian way. we make it in two ways and both are not slimy at all. we cook veggies to eat them with capati that's why our cooked veggies contains little more spices so that it balances the flavour when ate with daal, chapati and rice.
In India 🇮🇳 we pan fry them and then on other stove we had onions tomatoes oil and then okras, they don’t look slimy to me
2000 miles eh?
Could have went to Mississippi and just learned to pan (or deep) fry the stuff. Very tasty.
EDIT: 4:10
Thought he said he went to ''a cajun college'' at first 😆
That would have been even further as Cyrpus is closer to England than Mississippi
In stews & gumbos---which I love---that "slime" is considered an essential thickening agent, but just braised okra by itself?!? I'll pass...🤢 I too am weird about texture.
Now I'm hungry for some Okra Gumbo!
Come on now go on get that cajun food in you
Don't want it to get slimy? Chop and stirfry with spices till its all dehydrated and also make pakodas or tempuras out of it and there's no question of it getting slimy. Tip: You may leave the chopped lady fingers spread across for a while or for a few hours to get it a bit dehydrated before stir frying.
How my mom taught me to cook okra in Pakistani dishes is:
1. Don't add water when sauteing, (for stews water is fine)
2. Don't stir it too much
I'm actually surprised, how did you manage to make okra look so slimy?
Awesome!!!
The taste is excellent and the poops feel fluffy.
???
@@1ong1ashes Is it only me? Whenever I eat okra, it just flies right out.
I love okra!
Bought okra for the first time today, dont know how to use it :D
Dammit, now I want some Okra. :(
In India, we deep fry it with spices and I've never called it slimy in my life. Heart choker maybe
Don't call bhindi masala heart choker 😭😂