Crispy Okra and Scotch Bonnet Houmous

I love a good snack, and it made sense to come up with a recipe using one of my favourite vegetables, teamed with a spicy dip since you can never go wrong with houmous (the latter being a new and improved recipe that featured in one of my first posts on the blog!).

Many people say they don’t like okra because of slimy texture though one of my most favourite dishes is seafood okra soup, and I love it for this very reason.  But for those slime fearing, okra haters this dish is for you as there’s no slime in sight (bar when you cut them) – you’ll soon become an okra lover…hopefully!

Like me, you’ll end up eating most of it straight from the pan as they are so moreish.  I actually think these top my oven baked okra recipe as they are much crispier and boast more flavour cooking them this way .

Enjoy!

x

The prep. part

Serves 2 – Okra

240g okra, cut off head and cut into quarters, lengthways

1 heaped tablespoon rice flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

3 tbsp of cold pressed extra virgin rapeseed oil, for each batch

Serves 10 – Houmous

800g tinned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1 tbsp tahini

Juice of 2 lemons

60ml of extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon of finely chopped scotch bonnet

Splash of cold water

Salt to season

The assembling part

Houmous

• Place all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz. Place in the fridge to chill until the okra is cooked.  It will also keep in the fridge in airtight container for about 7 days.

Okra

• Put rice flour in a mixing bowl and season.
• Cut okra into quarters, lengthways.
• Turn okra into mixing bowl submerging them in the rice flour so that each one is completely coated.
• Put frying pan on to a medium heat and once the pan is hot, add 3 tablespoons of the oil for the first batch.
• Once oil is hot add first batch of okra to the pan ensuring none of them are overlapping/you don’t overfill the pan, allowing enough space for you to turn the okras once cripsy on one side.  Turn the heat up high to really get the okra to crispy up first and not release any of the water to that it goes soft.
• After about 3 – 4 minutes toss the okra so that the other sides can fry and continuing doing this until all side are browned and crispy.
• It will take about 10 – 12 minutes to make a batch and the okra will only stay crispy for about 40 minutes so eat up and snack away, sprinkling them with a little salt for seasoning!

Enjoy

x