OKRA -- yuck or yum? Try this.

TMG51 · Mar 21, 2018

I'm from the north. I'm 30 years old and I've never eaten Okra. Every time I'm in a grocery store in the south, I wonder what this mystery object is. Should I eat it? And if so, how should I prepare it the first time?

eDJ_ · Mar 21, 2018

Okra is good food and can be prepared in so many different ways. Capt'n Dee's Fish houses (owned by Shoney's) offers fried okra which are dipped in a cornmeal batter and deep fried. Many people don't wish to eat oysters but find this an appealing substitute. You could try okra fixed in this manner with cocktail sauce for dipping the pieces in.

Okra can produce this slime when cooked that so many people object to. The pods are normally a bit fuzzy and together that is a non starter for a lot of folks. But there are many ways it can be fixed where that doesn't happen.

I had a friend who loved okra that was pickled. He would put the pod on a slice of white bread with a bit of mayo and fold the bread and eat it like a hot dog. I've tried it myself, and it's OK but I've never developed the appetite for it he had.

Many of the Dollar Tree stores carry cans of Tomato Corn & Okra like this below.

You could heat this in a sauce pan, add a beef bouillon cube and some dried onions to it to brighten the flavor.
(even add some pieces of smoke sausage to it)

Then cook some white rice and put that on a plate and serve the Tomato Corn & Okra over the top of it.

Nutritional Value of Okra:

Okra is low in Saturated Fat and Sodium, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Protein, Riboflavin, Niacin, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Magnesium and Manganese.

Okra plants grow rather large and the pods grow facing up toward the sky.