Living in Canada on the prairies makes us about as far from okra growing country as possible and okra is not a vegetable that is often stocked by my grocer. The other day though, they had the most beautiful and perfect pods of fuzzy green okra.
“Steve always says he likes okra” I thinks to myself “Didn’t I recently see a recipe for okra somewhere?”, “I’ll buy some, he’ll be delighted”.
Bring okra home, photograph it raw, do research at all latest favourite internet sources for recipe, create spice blend. Steve walks in the door and immediately says “okra, that stuff is slimy as hell” (imagine scrunchy face here). Crap.
I keep on keepin’ on because I’m not going to waste a lovely bunch of awesome looking veggies, and because Melissa Joulwan tells me that if I don’t cut into it, and I barbecue it whole, it will not be slimy. Trust Mia, trust.
Heat barbecue, toss okra with melted duck fat, salt and seasonings and pull out the grill pan. Grill until they look, well, grilled. Remove from pan, place into serving bowl and snap a few quick, but somewhat uninspired shots. Get dish to the table quickly as the rest of the meal is leftover chicken, this is the big deal of the meal…
Well. Turns out that Melissa was right. These little pods of goodness weren’t slimy at all, even when you cut into them. Just nicely toasted and quite delicious – a good way to add some variety to our vegetable repertoire.
About the spice blend. I am loving the smoky depth of dried urfa biber chiles so I decided to give them a try here, along with some dried aleppo chile. You could easily substitute dried pepper flakes and a bit of smoky paprika. Next time (yes, Steve liked them enough to go looking for seconds so there will be a next time) I might go a bit heavier on the allepo pepper or even try dried chipotle chiles for a bit of an extra kick.
Ingredients
- Okra
- 1 Tbsp melted duck fat or olive oil
- generous pinch kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp urfa biber optional, substitute smoked paprika
- 1/8 tsp aleppo chile substitute dried chile flakes or cayenne to taste
- 1 tsp dried oregano
Instructions
-
Trim just the very tips of the okra stems. Don't cut into the pod tops, just remove any remaining stem
-
Put whole pods into a medium sized bowl and toss with oil and salt
-
Sprinkle spice mix over and continue to toss until well distributed
-
Place okra into a vegetable grill tray over med-high barbecue. If you don't have a grill tray, place pods directly onto the grill, across the grates so they don't fall in
-
Grill until evenly browned
Recipe Notes
Adapted from Melissa Joulwan
I'd love to connect via social media! Find me on the channels below, or if you'd like to know more about me and this blog 
