This is a vegetable recipe that uses okra as a base element, which is widely consumed in Africa, America, the Middle East, the Balkans, Russia and South Asia. That is, everywhere except Western Europe.
The okra receives different names depending on where we are. In Africa it is usually called gombo, in America okra and in the Middle East and the Balkans it is called bahmie or bahmia. In Greece it is consumed regularly and is also called bamies. In America it is consumed in the Caribbean area, Brazil and the South of the United States.
At first glance it looks like a small green pepper but if you look closely you can see that the section is pentagonal in shape and the color is less intense. It certainly has nothing to do with peppers.
Okra is the fruit of a plant related to cotton. It is native to East Africa from where it spread to the Middle East and the West of the continent, where it is highly appreciated. The slave trade brought it to America while by various means it reached the rest of Asia. The Ottoman Empire facilitated its introduction to the Balkans, Greece and Russia.
As I have already said, it is a small vegetable (about 5 cm / 2 inches, those larger than this size are too hard) with a pentagonal section. When making a cut, five cavities are observed, each of which contains seeds with which a coffee substitute is made that does not contain caffeine. When cutting it, we will also observe a peculiarity that makes okra an essential ingredient for stews. It secretes a viscous substance that when cooked generates a pseudo gelatin. For this reason it is widely used to thicken meat stews. We simply buy small-sized okra, we cut the tips and "tails" so that the gelatinous substance comes out and we can add them to any stew, with an effect similar to or superior to that of animal-derived jellies.
The okra is consumed inside the stew like any other vegetable, although always making sure that they are small in size because the large ones are too hard. In other cases they are cooked as they are, without being part of anything, just as if we were making tender beans, artichokes or Brussels sprouts. This is the case of the Greek recipe that we are dealing with.
Okra is found in Middle Eastern markets in fresh but also frozen form. The same thing happens with frozen ones as with peas: they are less hard. So using frozen okra the cooking time is significantly reduced.
This is an extremely common vegetable, almost vulgar we would say, in the area. It provides us with the usual nutrients of vegetables, its contribution in fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, vitamin B and calcium being remarkable.
INGREDIENTS
- 1kg (2.2 lbs) okra (frozen)
- 2 cups of crushed tomato
- 1 purple onion (sweet)
- 1 cup of vinegar
- 1 clove garlic
- Salt
- ground black pepper
- Chopped parsley
- extra virgin olive oil
Keep in mind that in this case frozen okra has been used. If it were fresh, the cooking times would be longer.
First, we pour the okras into a colander and pass them through running tap water. Then we pour them into a bowl or basin and soak them with the vinegar and salt. They must be well impregnated. This is done to remove the external stickiness due to the mucilage. That is, if you do not do this process, it seems that the okra "drools". If the okra is used to thicken a stew, the external mucilage does not matter too much, but in this case, since it is the majority in this stew, it is preferable to eliminate it (the mucilage is not harmful and nothing happens with it, it is simply sticky).
In a deep pan add a generous stream of olive oil and in it fry the finely chopped onion and the garlic clove - without the green germ - also very finely chopped. Let cook until the onion is transparent.
At that time we add the okra, previously washed again to remove excess salt and vinegar. Pour over the two glasses of crushed tomato and half a glass of water. We salt and pepper
Shake the pan to distribute the liquid well. Don't put any spoon in because the okra are delicate and could break easily. Cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
We preheat the oven to 200 degrees (390 F). If the casserole where we have made the sauce and the okra are can go in the perfect oven, we put it in and keep it for 30 minutes. Otherwise, we take them to a source that can go into the oven and bake for the same period of time.
They are removed and served like any other vegetable, sprinkling chopped parsley on top. They are really good.
