F arrived home from laiki with several kilograms of cheap tomatoes and set about making passata to seal into some jars. The bowl of green things in the background and below have various names (depending on where in the world you hail from). F calls them okra.
When you cook okra, they make a gloopy juice too - more glue than juice in my view, but she eats it. In fact she seems to like them fried up with onions and lashings of Grenadan allspice, cooked down with a generous quantity of that passata she is making, and served on couscous with chopped up fermented lemons (Moroccan style). Do you think perhaps she is mixing her influences here?
Fermented lemons (or possibly Fur-mented lemons, I have seen what grows on top) are in a 'crock' on the bench, and seem to be getting added to everything these days. They certainly ensure I don't go sniffing too closely at her plate. It smells like something she might clean the bathroom with.
On a less challenging note, apricots were cheap and I suspect the dehydrator will be making an appearance again soon.
Gail is interested in the fermented lemons - not an ingredient she's come across before.
ReplyDeleteNobby shares Tigger's disappointment at the absence of roast chicken.
Lemons and salt (and some extra lemon juice to drown it all in and a weight thing to keep it under). F uses really small (golf ball sized) lemons cut in half. Seriously, it smells like bathroom ckeaner.... xxx Mr T
DeleteWill you please ask F if she will come to my house and teach me how to cook!
ReplyDeleteI make it sound much better than it is JayCee. Most of it is gloop and none of it has any meat in it, so it really isn't interesting at all. xxx Mr T
Deletemy question is, are you resigning your position or are you resigned to your fate. lets talk about the english language, okra goes with tomatoes like white on rice. I love both, either or.. everything sounds yu
ReplyDeleteResigned to my lot in life -reporting on gloop, how low i do stoop....😹
Deletejust lost my comment. 2nd try. if two appear you can pick which to publish. I love okra, bob says he doesn't eat slime, i love it fried down and it goes with tomatoes like white on rice. mother always threw a handful in her pot of peas. now as to your resignation. are you resigned to your life or are you resigning your position on this blog? now lets talk about the English language
ReplyDeleteF tried making a shrimp gumbo once lost the will to live before she got to the end of it (maybe the recipe was too exactly) and was unimpressed by the result. Trouble with okra avaikable in UK is they are over mature ans stringy. Here, fresh and less mature, they are piled high in the outdoor markets about €4/kg. Half a kilogram goes a long way.
DeleteIf only world peace could be achieved as easily as the food is combined. I love experimentation in the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteI tried to grow okra but they didn’t work
Hubby is going to organise a big hot house so I might give them another go once that’s set up
Whenever that is
F is planning okra for her forever NZ garden, so on the basis of your observation we are going to need to choose our forever home carefully. If the climate isn't right we'll need room for a polytunnel.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteOOooohhhhh, fresh passata... I'll skip the lemons.... but even more mmmmmmmm is the bhindi (okra); one of my own personal faves, though I have to pay $$$ for them and then can only get them via my sister coming to visit. Right, that's enough drooling before bed... hugs and whiskeries, YAM-aunty xxx
Okra in UK had never been a great experience where we lived. F realizes she might have to make trips to an Indian part of London occasionally. Fz and Pz Mr T
DeleteI tried okra once and that was enough! Very much like gloop :)
ReplyDeleteK will only eat okra with chicken but I like it stewed with tomatoes. Gloops not too bad.
ReplyDeleteI didn't answer your last comment on my post. You have such lower laïki prices. Our market is on Friday. I'll go down and see what's available. It's mid summer. There should be more variety and heavens to Betsy, they should be cheaper. Let you know!!
My favorite okra dish is pure Rural Southern USA: pre-heated cast iron skillet well seasoned, a dash of cooking oil or bacon grease, a tablespoon or two of corn meal,; dump the okra that's been cut into. pieces about a quarter inch long, keep gently stirring and flipping the okra with a spatula. It sort of blackens. Love it that way but I'm not safe around a stove anymore. Hubby is not an okra fan except for using it in gumbo. And no older relatives still living that have the magic touch. LC@retirementdaze.com
ReplyDeleteThat okra dish sounds worth a try. Cornmeal is a staple in this household. Is gumbo genuinely difficult? F never mastered it.
DeleteJust lost my comment, too, but MadSapper said it all. LC at retirement daze.com
ReplyDeleteI've never tried okra. My Mum is a volunteer at the local community fridge. Sometimes she drops off random bits which are leftover at the end. That way I get to try all sorts for free and it does me good to be a bit more creative. Arilx
ReplyDeleteWe never got decent okra in UK - always bit tough and stringy.
DeleteI really like Okra and surprisingly only tried it 2 years ago when we were in Fiji, it doesn't seem to be very popular here.
ReplyDelete