Last year I introduced you to a Greek dish with stewed veal and okra. Another related dish with okra is the vegetarian version, loaded with onions, okra, perfumed with allspice berries and bulked up with some potatoes for a fine vegetarian main course.
There are a few ways you can go out making this okra dish, the first being to go with the meat version, which makes a great one-pot meal for the family, the other is to go the vegetarian route and stew the okra and serve as a wonderful side dish or as I’m going to show you here, add some potatoes into the mix to make this a satisfying and delicious vegetarian main course.
Like anything in life, nothing is perfect (including my recipes or posts) however, in my effort to always seek out a better recipe, pragmatism is always sought and there’s always room for improvement in a dish.
Today, I’m going to a cooking tip I learned from a friend of the family’s back in Greece. Each day, we go to the beach twice a day. Once in the late morning and once in the late afternoon. At the beach, one is greeted by neighbors, friends and relatives and the beach scene becomes like the central square or “plateia” of the town.
One hears of gossip, wrangling over Greek politics, the state of the world, stories of children and grandchildren and one ALWAYS hears discussions about what’s for lunch, how a dish is prepared or one gets to pick-up odd cooking tip.
Today’s tip involves okra. One of my mom’s friend’s in Greece shared how to eliminate any slimy texture that can result from cooking okra. Her solution is quite simple and yes, it does work!
- Cut the stems off your okra.
- Using a paring knife, carefully peel the skin from around the base of the stem side of the okra.
- Now you’re done. Simply rinse your okra and reserve. You’re now ready to make your Okra Stew.
For the Okra Stew recipe and more, please purchase my Everything Mediterranean cookbook.
43 Responses
YUM YUM YUM…this looks amazing. Can’t wait to try and make it myself! Reminds me of yiayia.
I love okra Peter, but cleaning them is such a pain! I usually cook them with chicken, but there is also a great Cretan recipe with red mullet. Perhaps Maria can elaborate…
This is my all-time, absolute favourite dish.. I absolutely adore it. Prefer the okras without any potato or meat around them. It’s popular for Greek moms to bake them in the oven with chicken and tomato sauce – to get the kids to eat them! Haha I just loved them plain!
What a lovely dish! That plate is really appetizing!
Cheers,
Rosa
Very very tasty and healthy, typical Greek dish!
This truly sounds delicious. My mother used to make okra two ways — fried, or stewed with tomatoes similar to this. I loved the tomato version even though she didn’t know your clever tip. The potatoes sound excellent with it!
Back at home in my moms garden we had okra and she used to make lots of veg dishes with them.
This looks realy yummy.
I haven’t had okra in a long time… .this looks great!
I also prefer okra without the meat. Yum, pass the bread for the sauce.
As a kid I never really liked the texture of okra but as an adult I now like bamies very much. Surprisingly, so do my kids! Your sauce sounds delicious.
Gosh, I haven’t had okra in years. I do love it though. I bet it tastes fab in this stew! I was surprised to see allspice in here, and I love how you fanned out the potatoes. I’m still craving the lamb you posted earlier. Now I’ll humbly request a serving of stew to go with the lamb. YUM!
Delish. I fell in love with okra in Ghana, because Ghanaian spicy okra stew (Nkrumahnkwan) is one of my favorite dishes. They serve it with a soured corn dough (Banku) and, if you are lucky, the giant forest snails considered a delicacy in Ghana. The snails took some getting used to ;)
we also dry them out in the sun (1-2 days) once we clean them the way you suggest. then we store them in the fridge till we use them, or in the deep freeze for the winter. i love them roasted with other veges – they looks so gooey before being cooked, but they are absoloutely delcious when roasted in tomato sauce
PS- Ghanaians LOVE the sliminess. It is part of the appeal of the dish. And an opportunity to showcase your finesse eating the slimy dish one-handed without utensils.
I don’t mind the sliminess. Boy do I wish I had a big hunk of bread and of course some feta to dig into some of those bamyes! Nice photos!
Weird – I wonder why that works? They look really good! And I am one who hates the sliminess.
I LOVE okra. I have loved it ever since I was a little kid. This looks delicious.
What a great meal and I love the idea of serving with potatoes. Great pictures Peter.
ooh Peter, that’s the one and almost only food I can’t bring myself to eat…okra. But I must commend you on a beautifully arranged platter. Maybe I need to try it again.
Hi Peter! What a beautiful dish, we have okra here, I like it with chicken or fried in small slices until they get brown, yummy. So, the sticky juice that forms after it is cooked is solved this way? I am going to try more okra recipes if this works here, thanks for the tip!
That’s a great tip; I’ll have to try it. I’ve also found that not overcooking the okra or stirring too much helps. Stewed bamyes were a favorite in our household. Whenever my uncle would visit, my mom “had” to make them for him. He missed the homey peasant Greek fare of his youth.
Okra is a much maligned veggie, isn’t it? It’s one of my favorites. I’m glad to see an okra recipe that’s not either fried or gumbo (which are two of my favorites).
What a great tip! This looks so good. Great comfort meal.
Now all I need to do is get my hands on some okra!
Peter, okra are one of the few things I still cannot get my head around. Saying that, if you made me this I would no doubt devour the lot!
Cheers
David
we call it lady’s fingers here. the stew looks really delicious and if I have warm rice to go with it, I can finish the whole plate by myself lol
So that’s how to avoid the slime! I gave up cooking okra but I’ll take your tip and try this recipe. Thanks!
Peter this is the one green vegetable that my son absolutely loves .. although he does like it fried :) I am leaning towards more veggie meals these days, thanks for this simple and tasty dish :)
okra doesn’t get used nearly enough. in fact, i’ve only ever seen it fried or in gumbo. i think this stew sounds terrific–thanks!
I prefer ocra with the chicken, a typical greek dish, but laderes are also perfect, with some fresh bread and feta cheese of course))
I think I have seen okra somewhere sometime before in Basel but no idea how to cook it. Next time if I come across again, I will come back for your recipe. BTW, my hubby seems to crave for Greek food and suggested to go to the Greek restaurant in Lorrach in Germany but I am not so keen with the standard food there, so i have to come to your site and check out which dishes are doeable here in Switzerland : )
I’ve always been intrigued about ocra, never actually tried it. This dish looks like the perfect way to get introduced to this ingredient.
Thank you Peter
I haven’t had okra in a long time – this dish looks really delicious. Love the presentation.
If that tip on not making the okra slimey is good you are truly my hero!!! Can’t wait to try it!!!
Yummy, I learned to love okra in trips to New Orleans, this version looks fabulous
I really love bamies. Tom is not as crazy about them (texture) but luckily he will still eat them. :) I make mine very similarly (without meat, too) but I have never thought to use allspice. I’ll have to give that a try next time.
This looks so good and I know it will taste wonderful. I like the addition of the allspice berries. I always include some when I make spanakorizo, never thought of it in okra, but will love to try it!
I have never liked okra due to the slimy texture and it was not served in my mother’s Greek household when I was a kid, but I thank you for this simple anti-slime tip. I may give it a try. who knows, I may grow to like them because of this.
Wow…so peeling that top part near the stem of the okra removes the slimy texture? That’s awesome, I never knew that. I love okra anyway, but I wonder if I could convert the other non-okra-eating members of my family if I did that? Thanks so much! This looks delicious by the way, even at 7:00 am.