Okra?

[millan]

My SO was treated to a dish with okra when he was away recently. He liked it and wondered if I can eat it and I had to confess that I had no clue.

I've heard the name but I didn't know what it was.
I googled and found out it's some kind of vegetable, but it's not in my Swedish sugar table of fruits and veggies so I wondered if anyone here knows the approx. amount of fructose and sucrose in it?

And if it's tolerable for HFI'ers, how do you eat it?
Raw, cooked, fried, as a snack, as a side-dish, etc?

[guest]

www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20eH.html

[colormist]

You can eat it! Not gobs and gobs of it, but it's mostly safe.

Um, on this note, I tried to cook okra. It came out all slimy and gross-looking. I put some on my husband's plate, he tried a bit, and said, "this is disgusting and slimy." So, we threw it all away. I couldn't even bring myself to eat it. It reminded me of the slime in Ghostbusters--you know, the stuff in the library.

Anybody have any recipes for it? Preferably one that doesn't make it god-awful slimy...

[julienc]

Well, unfortunately that's the problem with okra - it usually comes out slimy when cooked. The only way I eat it is pickled, and even then, not very often.

[sarahk]

Every now and then I buy it from the frozen section of the grocery store-it comes breaded, and in plastic bag (duh, like most frozen veggies) but instead of deep-frying it, I bake it in the oven, it gets crunchy-and eat it with mustard. Fred's right, it is very popular in the southern US, and often a side dish at BBQ joints-or so my husband tells me. Though, I don't think it tastes like oysters, since I don't like oysters. Pickled okra can be good on a salad chopped up, like a pickled tomato or pimentos.

[millan]

Okay, thanks everyone.
I've read that the slimyness (or is it sliminess?) when cooked makes it good for thickening stew. I'm not sure I'd like that, since I don't like cooked veggies in general, but if I can find it I'll try it raw or baked, maybe even pickled.

[Jane G]

Okra is related to the cotton plant and is an old favorite in the South. It can be an ingredient in Seafood Gumbo. My favorite way to fix it is to boil the pods until soft. Then holding the cap use a fork to mash them in cornmeal till they look like little fish. Pan fry till brown and crunchy. Yummy and not at all "sweet".