Okra is cooked in many ways in Lebanese/ Arabic cuisine. It is usually a veggie side served as appetizers or it can be served with meat as a stew with rice aside.
I wanted to spice up things a little bit from the usual traditional okra recipe that mum does and that I love so much but it is a heavy dish because it is basically deep frying the okra then cooking it with red tomato sauce and vegetables. so it started already on the wrong foot! 😛
For that and plus my bad/good habit of not being able to cook any recipe I see without tweaking it a little bit and adding some power food into it , I came up with this great delicious moisty okra recipe that is clean, frying-free and a vegan dish perfect for lent season.
So if you ever thought that you don’t like Okra, well, After you try this recipe you will think again.
Beside its delicious taste and texture, okra is like all vegetables high in fiber and low in calories. It contains a great nutritional profile of folate, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K as well as antioxidants like beta carotene and lutein. These small green bites will fill you up without breaking the calorie bank.
So enjoy a big bowl of this recipe with some pitta bread or just with a fork without feeling any guilt and enjoy it warm or cold as you prefer.
Are you drooling yet?!
enough with the pictures you got my point enjoy the recipe and i would be glade to hear your feedback when you try it, snap a pic and tag #annacookingconcept !
Okra Spicy Bowl (vegan):
Yield 2-3 servings
Ingredients:
- 200 g frozen okra*
- 1 ½ Tbsp. virgin olive oil
- 1 cup onion wedges
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1/3 cup fresh coriander, chopped. *
- 1 tsp. grounded cumin
- 2 cup cherry tomato cut into half.
- 10 mushrooms, washed and sliced
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas *
- ½ tsp. dry thyme
- ½ tsp. crushed chili pepper. *
- 2 bay leaves
- Ground pepper to taste
- ½ lemon fresh juice
- Chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)
- Cooked rice or pitta bread slices to serve with. (optional)
Instructions:
- If you are using fresh okra wash and dry well and cut both ends well. If you are using frozen ones like my case here just remove from bag and drain while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Slice the onions, mushrooms and tomatoes and set aside.
- Chop parsley and mince the garlic and set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat.
- When hot add the onion and sauté, stirring often for 2-3 minutes, until just tender.
- Add garlic, turn heat to medium, and stir 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add the okra. Stir often over medium heat for about 10 minutes. At this point they should look vibrant green. Test one, you want them tender, yet still just slightly firm. Add fresh coriander and salt. Keep stirring and sauté for 2 more minutes until the coriander toast a little.
- Add the mushroom and cook for 2 minutes until the mushroom juice bean to release.
- Add the sliced tomatoes and their juices, thyme, bay leaves and crushed chili pepper and cook 2-3 more minutes, until the tomato juices begin to release. Don’t overcook or let the tomatoes get overly soft.
- Add the chickpeas and cook through until they are heated
- Squeeze the lemon juice over.
- Serve over fluffy rice in a bowl or with pitta bread aside. Garnish with fresh parsley.
- Enjoy!
Nutritional information:
The nutritional information is a rough estimation of one bowl of okra not including the bread or rice.
Serving Size: 1 bowl • Calories: 220 • Fat: 6 g • Carbs: 30 g • Fiber: 9 g • Protein: 10 g
Notes:
* You can use fresh is WAY better but I didn’t find some in my local store.
* You can use dry coriander up to 2 tsp. coriander.
* You can use any kind of beans, from lentil to kidney beans or a mix of all or any kind you like. I just used my personal taste in that one.
* You can adjust the quantity of the crushed chili as much as you like, using chili is just a personal thing. And you don’t like chili at all, just substitute it with some sweet paprika pepper.