Another Recipe from “Chai and Pani,” a hometown Indian Street food restaurant of mine. Okra fries were often a popular appetizer there and EXTREMELY delicious. It was like a healthier version of a potato chip…you can’t just have one. My mother use to cook Okra all the time southern style. I never had any interest in even so much as trying it. Yet this amazingly simple and delicious recipe changed my pallet entirely for the vegetable. I remember I would get a family sized plate of the stuff at Chai and Pani and eat most of it by myself! Believe me, if you are a fellow okra hater, you’ll change your mind once you have this.
The original recipe for Chai and Pani is slightly different then what I went with. Not owning a deep fryer and preferring different ingredients I made some substitutions and “winged it.” This was an experiment for me of playing around until I got it pretty close to right. If you would like the original recipe, please see the reference cited below[i]. I subbed the canola oil for extra virgin olive oil, the lime for lemon, and used my roommates air fryer instead. I imagine you could also easily do this recipe sautéed on a skillet as long as you evenly space each okra strip and flip them as you go.
Recipe I went with:
- More or less 1 Lb of Okra
- 1 Lemon (go with lime if you can, I just used lemon cause it was on hand)
- Cooking oil (I used EVO or Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
- Salt to taste (or soy sauce if you prefer)
Preparation:
1st: wash okra and be sure to rube it some with gloves on as you rinse it. Being a farmer’s son I grew up handling this stuff to sell it often. It has tiny spikes that will prick you like a tiny micro thin hair. If you get it in a supermarket it’s likely already cleaned well for you…but it may still have one or two that will give you a tiny sharp prick. Make sure you rinse it well with gloves on.
2nd: slice okra into thing long strips. The thinner the better. The more thick they are the more difficult it will be to make them crispy when you attempt to fry or Sauté them. So it’s super important to make the slices as thin as you realistically can. A thick slice isn’t the end of the world…it just won’t likely get that delicious crispy effect when you fry it.
3rd (This is intended for an Air fryer if you have one): place strips in a bowl and drizzle in oil of choice (mine was Olive Oil). Cover bowl or container and shake until oil is evenly coating all okra strips. Place okra in Air Fryer for 5 mins on 400 Degrees F for 5 mins.
4th: Slice lemon/Lime into halves. Squeeze one half on to Okra evenly after first five minutes. Stir Mixture. Put Okra back in fryer for 5 mins. Then squeeze other half of lemon onto okra and stir mixture, put back in fyer for another 5 mins. Add light amounts of salt throughout process as you go. You may need to continuously add more 5 min segments until all Okra Strips become crispy and blackened. Be sure to mix the okra strips up each time you move through the 5 min. segments until satisfactory.
Personal Notes: A super simple recipe! But given I had to improve some and substitute some things, it wasn’t EXACTLY like Chai and Pani’s. I will say though it was pretty close though! I was able to use an Air Fryer but I imagine you could easily Sauté it instead if you don’t have an Air Fryer. Just be sure to evenly space out each strip and flip them some through the process until blackened and crispy. Place the strips in a paper towel to absorb excess oil as you go then serve. Just gradually add Lemon/lime juice and light salt as you go.
This is a delicious appetizer if it comes out right. Frankly its so addictive that one could easily just munch on these and not actually eat much of the main course. The bitter flavors of okra and the sour taste of Lemon/lime is perfectly balanced with some salt and presto! You have an addictive finger snack food!
References:
Searching for Queer Spirit 