What’s with Okra?

I know some of you don’t eat okra, not because it’s gooey and yucky and impersonates your saliva, but because you are not used of eating it. Parents would insist their kids to eat veggies because it is good for health. I used to remember my mother who gives us a story about veggies to convince us to eat it. In fact, it was successful because no matter how I don’t like some veggies, later on after convincing us about that veggie story, we are already eating it.

Simple Boiled Lady Finger


Before, I used to dislike squash and capsicum when I was young. But my mother influenced us siblings to eat it and it was the way how my mother prepares the veggies, shape them in cut decoration until we finally give in. I don’t have issues with okra and bitter gourd; I like them even when I was a kid.

So going back to okra, well you can do a lot of great recipes using okra with other veggies. What I just did was boil them and dip them into different sauces like chili garlic sauce, hoisin sauce or any shrimp paste sauce. If you don’t like then you can just use a simple fish sauce.

Okra or Lady Finger contains folic acid, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium. It also has Vitamin A and Vitamin C. They say that okra is good for asthma because it has anti inflammatory effect to our lungs. It also has anti oxidant content to help fight cancer. If you have problems with your bowel movements, okra is also good to eat. It also prevents diabetes because it normalizes the blood sugar and cholesterol level. It helps cure pimples, not putting it straight to your face, what I mean is when you intake the veggie.

There are lots of health benefits we can get from okra so I really suggest that as early as possible, influence your kids to eat veggies such as okra because it has a lot of nutritional benefits.

Adobong Okra

Adobong Okra (Lady Finger)

Adobo is one delicious Filipino dish which is well known. You can cook adobong manok(Chicken) or adobong baboy( pork meat) or whatever you like for an adobo be it a veggie or meat, as long as the main ingredients for adobo is there, you will surely like it. But this time, I wanted to share my own version of crunchy adobo which is dry and kinda spicy.

All you need to do is not to put too much water and put some spice like chilly powder to twist the taste. But if you don't like spicy and hot food, then just skip putting chilly powder.

Ingredients for cooking adobong okra (lady finger):

okra - sliced slantly into one inch
garlic- a lot of garlic cloves( this gives the aromatic smell of your adobo)-your preference
ground black pepper - your preference, just a few amount only
salt- for taste
soy sauce- (for those in India please don't use the dark soy sauce)
vinegar- (sugar cane vinegar and not synthetic vinegar)
2-4 tbsp. of water
vegetable oil


Preparations for Cooking Adobong Okra

Mix all the ingredients above and taste it if it was the correct spice and flavor that you like. Please take note that I didn't put an exact amount of measurement since your adobo will depend on the amount of lady finger that you have. Just to make sure, if you put let's say 5 tbsp. of soy sauce, then you need to put only 3 tbsp. of vinegar and not too much. Adobo is not a sour food. It is more of salty and blended sour but not too sour and not too much water like a soup.

Another thing that I wanted to tip here if you are cooking adobo, be sure you put a lot of oil like 5 to 7 tbsp. of oil if your measurement for soy sauce was 5 tbsp. The oil will keep your adobo cook even more and without sticking it at the bottom of the pan. Since water will not be much, expect that the oil will also fry a bit of your okra, but don't fry it too much.

Some people like their adobo sweet so they put sugar or pineapple bits into it. But that is good if your cooking meat adobo and not a veggie adobo. But again, it will still be your choice if you want it sweet.

My crunchy and spicy adobong okra (lady finger)

Spicy Okra (Lady Finger)

Spicy Okra (Lady FInger) Recipe

Okra or lady finger is one of the cheapest and all year-round available veggie in India. Every week when we used to market, I always do include veggie in my menu and I always prepare okra or lady finger. This recipe is quite spicy to someone who is not fond of putting chili in their dish. But in India, it is just regular that chili are always present in their dish. Hope you do like this dish.

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo okra
2 tbsp. of oil
1-1 green chillies (sliced into ring pieces)
pinch of turmeric
pinch of cumin powder
pinch of coriander powder
1/2 tsp of red chili powder
1 medium onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp. ginger-garlic paste
salt to taste
pinch of ground black pepper

Preparation:
Please wash your vegetables well before slicing and don't soak your okra in water when cut because that will be all gooey and slimy. Just cut it into rings as what you can see on the sample picture I have below.

Heat the pan and put the oil, then put your cumin powder, green chili and then garlic and once the garlic is ready put your onions. Just put salt while sauteing your onion to cook it well. After that you can put your turmeric powder and then your coriander powder and ginger-garlic paste. When the onion is already golden brown, then put your okra or lady finger. You can now add your chili powder and then put the flame from medium to slow flame and cover the pan to cook the veggie well. Just put only two table spoon of water and please don't put more because this recipe is good to be dry and not watery since we know that okra is slimy, so you don't need to put a lot of liquid.


Simmer the food till the lady finger gets tender and ready. Just season it with salt and ground black pepper to taste and that's it. You have your chilly and spicy okra.