EEE Cooks: Fried Okra (Recipe)

We start off by preparing the okra. We rinse the pods and trim off both ends. Then we cut them into about 1-inch lengths by halving the small ones and cutting the larger ones in thirds.

We use “standard breading procedure” to coat the okra pieces. On a plate we place a piece of wax paper and pour on the flour. We add some salt and pepper to taste. In a bowl we lightly beat the egg. On another plate we place another piece of wax paper with the cornmeal and mix this with salt and pepper. We get another plate ready to place the breaded okra pieces.

We place a third of the okra pieces first into the flour mixture, then the egg mixture, and finally the cornmeal. This gets a little messy, but we use the wax paper to move the pieces in the coating and then place them on the clean plate. We continue with another third of the pieces until we have all the okra pieces (we have 40 tonight) coated.

We heat a large pan over medium heat with about 1/4-inch of vegetable oil. We heat this until it is hot enough to fry the okra. Our thermometer broke, we probably wanted around 350-375 degrees. We use the handle of a wooden spoon, instead, to test the oil. When the handle inserted in the oil makes bubbles come up quickly around the handle, we are ready.

We gently place half of the coated okra into the hot oil. We get a paper towel-lined plate ready for the okra. After a minute or two of frying, the okra pieces are browned on the bottom. We flip these with tongs and continue to fry for another minute or two until browned all over and tender. We remove the pieces of fried okra to our paper towel-lined plate, sprinkle with kosher salt and continue with the remaining okra.

Fried Okra

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Ingredients