Okra

I don't know how I started eating Okra years ago but since I can remember, once every few months I pick up a jar of pickled okra. It's contents barely last a day in the fridge as I am constantly snacking on the peculiar pickles. This vegetable, with it's fuzzy texture and odd innards are something that I would have NEVER been offered up at our family dinner table. It remains a mystery where the love for pickled okra came from. However, pickled is the only way I have enjoyed okra all these years and I figured it's time to change that. I'm sure there are plenty of ways to prepare these odd, furry vegetables but time and again, I hear about fried okra, so I gave it a shot. It's funny, ever since I started this vegetable "project", I have fried more times than I care to admit in my house, something I never usually do. But you can't steam or sauteed everything and it has definitely made the other "resident" in this house very, very happy. Not being 100 percent sure the best way to go about frying up the okra, I did a little research online. A handful of recipes suggested cutting the okra into little "wheels" and letting sit in cold water in the fridge for an hour or so and then drain. What I saw then was like something out of a science fiction movie. I knew okra "innards" could be somewhat "slimy" but it turned my stomach at the amount that oozed out of the bottom of the strainer when I poured the okra-water mixture out. I quickly threw the okra wheels into a bowl with cornmeal seasoned with smoked paprika, salt and pepper, just so I didn't have to look at those little, slimy, green chunks. Tossing the okra until completely coated and barely any green shown through, it was now ready to take a dive in the vegetable "jacuzzi" heating up on my stove. The okra hung out in the bubbling vegetable oil for roughly 5 or 6 minutes, just until they were a nice golden color. Out they came, drained on a paper towel and sprinkled with salt and pepper. After a minute or two to cool, the taste test commenced. At first bite, all I could think of, was what looked like an "alien attack" in my sink earlier but I quickly got past that after the second bite. Long gone was the "slime" and in is place was a soft center with a crispy flavorful outer coating. The only thing missing was something sinful to dip them into, as if the frying didn't do enough damage to my daily calorie count! Maybe I should stick to the pickled okra just for the sake of my waistline and only "jacuzzi" them once a year....ok maybe twice a year!