If you love okra like we do, plan to add it to your summertime garden next year. It is very easy to maintain, grows well in our hot and humid southern climate, and produces a bunch of okra. One of the most popular ways to enjoy okra is fried; my favorite way is to dip the halved okra in a mixture of buttermilk and egg and then in a mixture of cornmeal, flour and your favorite Cajun seasoning. It only takes a couple of minutes to fry and the coating is super crunchy while the okra very tender on the inside. For this recipe, I decided to serve the fried okra over baby spinach and top the whole dish off with halved cherry tomatoes (fresh from our garden as well…) My Fried Okra & Cherry Tomato Salad is great with a drizzle of pepper sauce and is just one of the recipes you’ll see over the next month or so with the freshly picked okra from our garden!
(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)
Fried Okra & Cherry Tomato Salad
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. okra, washed and patted dry, halved lengthwise
- 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 cup cornmeal
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
- Vegetable or safflower oil, for frying
- Cherry tomatoes, halved
- Baby spinach
- Pepper sauce, for serving if desired
Directions:
- Pour 2-inches of vegetable or safflower oil in the bottom of a Dutch oven. Heat over medium-high heat or until small bubbles form around the edges.
- In the meantime, prep the okra. Whisk together the buttermilk and egg in one small bowl and the cornmeal, flour and Cajun seasoning in another bowl until combined. Dip the halved okra in the buttermilk mixture with one hand, then coat it with the cornmeal mixture.
- Fry in the hot oil for 2 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned. Drain on a paper towel; serve over the spinach along with the cherry tomatoes. Serve with a dash of pepper sauce, if desired.
Tagged: buttermilk, Cajun seasoning, cherry tomatoes, cornmeal, fried, fried okra and tomato salad, garden, gardening, okra, okra and tomato salad
Leave a Reply