Side dishes – Page 37 – Courage in the Kitchen

Toni’s Fried Okra

As I was buying okra at the farmer’s market in New Richmond last Saturday, someone asked me, “What do you do with it?” I said that we liked to fry it. A bystander asked, “But isn’t it slimy?” The answer is yes and no.

Okra is a good source of mucilage. Mixed with water, it’s the slimy sticky stuff that used to come in a bell-shaped bottle with a neat rubber top that you used to make valentines or paper chains in school. Envelopes and stamps used mucilage too. Licking the dry layer of mucilage made stamps stick to envelopes and many envelopes today still use mucilage. It doesn’t have much flavor alone, but flavors can be added, and I remember peppermint envelopes that I really liked.

So okra is slimy and sticky. You will know that just a few seconds after cutting a pod. But if you cook it right, it is a wonderful vegetable that helps give seafood gumbo its velvety texture, thickens soups, complements many other vegetables and makes wonderful pickles. Okra grows best where it is hot, which explains why there are so many southern recipes that use it.

Toni’s fried okra is not slimy. Dave and Toni were two of our closest friends when we lived in Murray, Kentucky and Toni was a great cook. She learned how to fry okra from her grandma and mother when she was growing up in east Tennessee, and she taught Jerri how to do it. Unlike the commercial fried okra that is dipped in batter, Toni’s recipe results in a low carb light and tasty vegetable that goes well with just about any meat you put on the table.

Making it is absurdly simple. The hardest thing is finding the okra. Even if you count the salt and pepper separately, there are only five ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

Fresh okra pods
Bacon grease or vegetable oil
Coarsely ground yellow cornmeal
Salt and pepper to taste

PROCEDURE:

Wash the okra pods, remove the stem at the base and slice into 1/4 inch rounds. For 2 cups of okra slices, you will need about two tablespoons of grease and 2 or 3 tablespoons of cornmeal.

Heat the grease in a large frying pan until it is moderately hot. Add the okra slices in a single layer and sprinkle them with cornmeal as if you were seasoning them generously. Salt and pepper lightly. Fry over medium heat, turning the okra once or twice, until slightly browned. Serve hot.

NOTE: Okra pods become woody as they grow larger. Choose ones between three and five inches long.

The Turk’s Pilaf

Dining at the Turk’s Inn was always a special event. There were many fine supper clubs in the Hayward, Wisconsin area when I was in high school, but the Turk’s Inn was at or very near the top of the list. It was the place you took your Prom date to, so you started saving money right after the Christmas Ball. Enough said.

The Turk’s Inn was owned by George and “Ma” Gogian. It was a family operation. George was the perfect host who made sure that everyone was treated as a special guest. “Ma,” his wife, was the chef, and their daughter Marge oversaw the tables in the dining room.

George and Ma are both gone now, but Marge greets guests and does her best to maintain the high standards set by her mother and father. When we had dinner there a couple of years ago, the cocktails were excellent, my steak was perfect and the pilaf was just as wonderful as ever.

At the Turk’s, pilaf meant coarse cracked wheat or bulgur sautéed in butter, simmered in broth and seasoned only with salt and pepper. Pilaf is commonly made with rice, but if you want something deliciously different that has only five ingredients and is ridiculously easy to make, try the Turk’s pilaf.

When she was in high school, my sister Barbara worked at the Turk’s. She taught me how to make their wonderful pilaf. I can’t swear that my recipe is identical to the pilaf I had with my steaks at the Turk’s, but it tastes just like the extra serving Marge brought brought me two summers ago. It is so good that I sometimes wonder if “manna” really really refers to the ancestral version of the Turk’s pilaf.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup bulgur (or coarse cracked Durham wheat)
3 T butter
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 to 3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

PROCEDURE:

Melt the butter in a skillet with tight-fitting lid. Raise the heat to medium and add the bulgur or wheat. Stir with a wooden spoon to coat every grain and toast it lightly. Add the broth, salt and pepper and mix well. Bring to boil, turn the heat to low, cover and simmer 10 to 12 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed,. Remove from heat and let stand a few minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

NOTE: Ken Bjork emailed to say that adding half cup of chow mein noodles to the pilaf before serving it gives it some extra crunch and flavor. It is one of his family’s favorites. The Turk’s daughter, Marge, included a half cup of broken up chow mein noodles in the recipe as well.