Tomato and Okra

Okra is a Southern love not much shared by the rest of the USA, a fact that was brought home to me recently when I looked up okra on Nutrition Data a website dedicated to nutritional information about food. They only had six entries which isn't much if you stack it up against the carrot with 37 entries or French fries with 31 entries. In all of the cooked options they specify "drained," I've never heard of draining cooked okra. Still even drained, Nutrition Data gives boiled okra a completeness score of 90 in the nutrient balance data section. If you don't drain the okra and you add tomatoes I'll bet okra would rock the nutritional house.

Tomato and okra is a Southern classic, this recipe combines the traditional elements of the dish with some modern up-dates. A common Yankee compliant about okra is that it is slimy. I have never had slimy tomato and okra, something in the tomatoes deals with the slime in the okra, so if you're feeling adventurous give this recipe a try.

Traditionally this dish is made with pork fat and a little nutmeg and allspice. I come from an area of the south that is close to the coast so my recipe uses clam juice instead of pork. Clam juice can be bought in most grocery and big box stores in a jar. Nutmeg and allspice are expensive spices here in the South and tomato and okra are traditionally made with them when you're making the dish for company. I have the luxury of being able to consider them common every day spices but I have substituted them in this recipe with Garam Masala. You should be able to pick this up in the spice aisle if you don't have it. I can get it in Chipley, you should be able to get it.

This recipe calls for combining the onions with the tomatoes and okra without sautéing them first. This is a common Southern cooking technique not used as much in the rest of the country. Cooking the onions this way allows the "raw" onion flavor to be part of the dish. If you don't like this by all means saute them first. I recommend following the recipe "as is" the first time though, the tomatoes and okra can stand up to the onion no problem.

This is one of those recipes that has greatly benefited from modernization. One of the things I love about okra and the tomatoes I use in this recipe, cherry, is that I can grow both. I have a very black thumb so this makes me very happy. Unfortunately about the time the tomatoes and okra stop producing, clam season starts. Viola, flash freezing and canned clam juice to the rescue. This recipe also benefits greatly, in my opinion, from Garam Masala and anchovy paste two things that did not exist in my Mom's kitchen when I was growing up but I find indispensable in mine.

This recipe makes 6 servings.

• 1 16 oz bag of frozen okra or one pound of fresh
• 8 oz bottle of clam juice
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes
• 4 oz of tomato paste
• 1/4 medium onion finely diced
• 1/4 teaspoon of Garam Masala, smell this before you add it. If it doesn't smell of allspice add another 1/8 of a teaspoon if it smells strongly of allspice subtract 1/8 of a teaspoon you can really overwhelm the dish with Garam Masala if you are not careful.
• 1 anchovy finely chopped or a dab of anchovy paste.
• a dash of red pepper flakes, you can use more if you like spicey, but the point of adding them is not to make the dish hot but to highlight the Garam Masala
• Salt and pepper to taste

I always go through my frozen okra and take out the tops. You can do this or not. If you are using fresh okra cut it into 1/2 inch pieces. Lots of people like to cut the okra lengthwise and leave it at that, I do not. I want a couple of pieces of okra and a couple of tomatoes on my spoon at the same time.

Recipes that call for 4 ounces of tomato paste used to aggravate me to no end. Cans of tomato paste start at 6 ounces. Once you have opened the can, what are you to do with the other two ounces? Freeze them. I now take a piece of wax paper and put the rest of the tomato paste on it in one ounce rounds then cover them with another piece of wax paper and flatten them. Then I put the wax paper in the freezer, once they are frozen I cut out the rounds, put them in a ziplock bag and return them to the freezer. You can get tomato paste in a squeeze tube now, but my way cost less.

Combine all the ingredients and cook covered until the cherry tomatoes burst.

Tonight I'm going to serve mine with Rosemary Scented Roast Chicken, thank you Hungry Mouse, and brown rice cooked in turkey stock.