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Fry it! It's delicious.

I make a okra and tomato stew using butter, chopped onion, thyme, 1-2 chicken bullion, red wine, 1 can of diced tomatoes and a bunch of chopped up okra. Great on Carolina rice :-)

oh but the slime is SO good for your digestive system!! so are eggplants.

and i love the slime - boiled okry is my favorite! really okry any way is my favorite.

FINE, Tom Colicchio, don't eat any. As we say in my family, "more for me!" I love okra.

Oh, I grew up on Talk O' Texas pickled okra. I love it. Granted, it was a little embarrassing in my school lunch box. I never thought of it as a bloody mary garnish, but now I'll have to try it. Yay.

I put sliced okra in beef stew and vegetable soup. Delicious!

Crisp cornmeal fried okra is part of my most favorite meal, along with fried chicken, wilted spinach salad and new potatoes.

I love okra both ways--slimy and unslimy. One of my favorite Indian dishes is kurkuri bhindi--spiced okra fried to a crisp, though I don't mind the oozier form at all. Yum.

When okra is used in something like a stew or a "creamy" type dish, its viscous properties add a certain body to that food and you don't notice the slime.

I like to make callalloo which is made from greens, either collard greens or amaranth leaves, cooked down with diced pumpkin, onion, garlic and habanero peppper. Sliced okra is added to the dish and thickens it to a nice consistency.

And don't forget about gumbo, my favorite okra application ever. The okra is not only delicious but absolutely essential to the finished texture. But I think it's still a little slimy. And I also love the fried okra at, yes, Luby's cafeteria.

I love the stuff, and cannot eat enough of it, now matter how it's prepared. And I absolutely agree re: others' distaste=more for me. I guess I can understand, especially for those who aren't familiar with it, it is a little snotty. But yum...

Yummy! I can't wait to try this recipe. I'm a member of a CSA, and we just got okra for the 2nd week. Last time I made fried okra, which I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE. I'll make this recipe this week! I have a lot of those veggies handy! I hope I get okra next week to, I want to tackle a gumbo!

PS. My friend from Ohio tells me we must make gumbo different "down here" (the South, specifically TN). She says up where she's from they don't put okra in it? I'm like "WHAT?!?!" How can you have gumbo without okra???

renata, I made gumbo this weekend after that last open thread okra discussion and it was AWESOME!

UptownGirl, from what I've seen there are people who make okra-based gumbo, and people who use fil`e powder to thicken their gumbo, and people who make a roux. Okra seems easiest to use (at least to me) and it thickened fine, it just took a little work to get the goo off of my cutting board.

Agree with brad bane - fry it!

I've been making okra (stir) fry for the past few weeks with the fresh produce. Cut 1/2" discs - I don't use the top crown or the bottom tip. In a pan with oil, add okra, salt, season (I use Indian curry powder) cover and cook with a little water (1 tablespoon) to steam and soften first for a few minutes - say three. Then remove cover, reduce heat to low and fry till there is a light crust on the pieces.

In fact, in you want more liquid in the dish, set the lightly fried okra aside. Now saute onions, add tomatoes and whatever else your recipe calls for and make the base. Add the okra back in at the last stage and allow to intergrate for a few mins. This totally takes care of the slime issue (if that's the issue).

I love the okra too, and wish I had some of that bacon greased cornmeal kind for dinner.

but I'm working the miso these days
okra sliced and stirfried with squash, miso, fresh shiso leaf or thai basil, a fresh chili, onions/garlic, mirin and tamari. The goo factor blends in, or seems minimized, with miso etc.
Serve over rice.

I love that Tex pickled okra, and the $$ Smolkra very delicious but too expensive pickled okra sold by Rick's Picks at the NYC greenmarkets. It's pretty easy to make your own refridgerator pickles with okra -- just stick them in the vinegar mixture in a jar in the fridge and wait a week.

You get less goo with whole pods that you don't cut - just stew or pickle.

Guido,

Exactly how I feel about okra. I love them anyway, but when I cook myself, I make this summer dish with all the veggies in season, chopp them is 1 inch cubes, the okra stays whole as I pick only the small ones, the baby okras, cut the stem at an angle all around it and then I put all of them in a pot, tomato sauce, bay leaves, chopped parsley. Cover, cook in slow for 30 minutes. It is the most refreshing dish - sorto ratatoullie, but in bigger chunks.

Oh, Chris, I'm so excited you tried out my recipe. Hope you liked it. :D

...frying okra? In bacon grease? That does make the otherwise loathsome stuff sound appetizing, but doesn't it completely destroy any health benefit?

Okra was my favorite vegetable when I was a kid. It was slimy the way my mom cooked it and it was so gooood.

I was raised on this recipe by the old southern ladies in my family:

1 part okra
1 part bacon
1 part diced onion

Saute the onions and bacon until cooked through. Drain the fat. The get the pan good and hot, then throw that okra in there. Let it sizzle for a few minutes, then toss the bacon and onion back in there.

Serve over dirty rice.

It's one of those loose recipes that old ladies use. No times, no measurements. Yay New Orleans!

I NEVER said it was healthy.

it's all about balance, in terms of those health benis . . .
add healthy slime to artery-clogging joy-producing fat
: )

Mmm...pickled okra, fried okra and "dutch mess" (tomatoes and okra stewed together with onions). Love them all!