Harvesting Okra Seeds

Our okra plants are still producing nicely, so I decided to leave a few okra on the plants to mature fully for seed harvesting.  While okra tastes best when it is small and dark green, it is ideal to wait until the okra is giant and faded to a creamy white before picking if the aim is to collect lots of mature seeds.  After harvesting, leave the okra to air dry.  I leave them on top of our microwave, but you can also let them dry outside.  After a few days, the okra will be dried out and the seeds ready for collection.  Just split open the orka vertically, easily done with your fingers, and let the seeds drop into a bowl.  Label and store for next year.

Okra stew from India

The "Burmese" okra from Southern Exposure is abundant right now. The challenge is finding creative uses for our harvest. We have a recipe for fried okra that we've made several times, but we don't often eat such fatty dishes. Watching the okra slowly spoil in the kitchen, with more in the garden ready for harvest, spurred David to seek out a new use for our okra. Last night, he prepared a fantastic okra curry, an Indian stew with okra, chickpeas, tomatoes and just a little heat (a great way to use up some of those dried chiles we've been accumulating). Serve on a bed of basmati rice with some raita and naan on the side, and you've got a really special dinner.

Curried Okra with Chickpeas and Tomatoes

(adapted from epicurious.com)

1 1/4 lb fresh okra, sliced thinly (okra should be green and small)

1 1/2 T vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
4 tsp curry powder
2 tsp chopped dried chile pepper
1 14-oz can whole tomates in juice; chop tomatoes and reserve juice
1 19-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup coconut milk
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté onion and garlic with ginger, curry powder, and chile peppers, stirring, 2 minutes. Add tomatoes with their juice, chickpeas, and coconut milk and boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in okra, salt, and black pepper and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until okra is tender, about 10 minutes.

Not just another pretty plant

Growing up in Maryland, okra wasn't part of our diet. And since we've lived in Texas I've managed to avoid it for the most part. I hate biting into crunchy seeds surrounded by slime. I never thought I would grow okra in my garden, but I was persuaded to give it a try after seeing photos of beautiful okra plants. I figured that at least the plants would be ornamental even if I didn't enjoy the harvest.

Related to hibiscus, okra produces gorgeous flowers on lush, tropical plants that thrive in our hot weather. I selected "Burmese" okra from Southern Exposure, based on the catalog description:

58 days. [Heirloom okra from Burma sent by organic market grower Hap Heilman. Now a favorite in some local restaurants.] 'Burmese' okra bears when plants are 18" tall and continues to bear until frost. The leaves are huge, typically 16" across. The slightly curved, virtually spineless pods range from 9 to 12" long. Pods mature from light green to creamy yellow green. At 10" inches long, they are tender, sweet, and spineless enough to be eaten raw or added to salads. Pods are less gooey than other okra, a quality that gives this variety a greater appeal.

The "less gooey" nature of Burmese okra, and its favor among "local" restaurants sounded promising.

I started the seeds in mid-April, and the plants languished for quite a while. They didn't look sickly, but they didn't grow either. I stopped paying attention to them (since I wasn't exactly dying for an okra harvest) until one day I noticed a single large spike sticking up from one of the plants. The plants were still short, so it was hard to miss a pod of almost 10" curving up from the center of one of them. This okra pod was amazing, and certainly didn't resemble anything I'd seen at the grocery store. The plants had finally grown up, developing very pretty green leaves edged in red, and flowers in a pale buttery yellow with deep burgundy centers.

The okra pod was so attractive it was hard to cut if off the plant. I was also at a loss as to what to do with a single okra pod. I wanted to give it a try, but I wasn't willing to eat it raw (although I have read that raw okra is a tasty addition to salads). I figured almost every vegetable is edible when sauteed in butter and olive oil, so I sliced my giant okra pod and quickly cooked it, adding some sea salt and pepper. David refused to taste even one bite, claiming a lifelong hatred of okra, but I was pleasantly surprised by the fresh, crunchy taste of my Burmese okra. The catalog didn't lie -- there wasn't any slime.

My reaction (and constant nagging) convinced David to try our okra when we had a more substantial harvest. He decided a true Southern recipe would be fitting, and we agreed on Fried Okra from Frank Stitt's Southern Table. The Fried Okra recipe is simple, using a batter of cornmeal, flour and buttermilk. But it also calls for 2 pounds of okra, and while my harvest had increased by a staggering 400%, it meant that this time I had just 4 pods to cook. Although the pods are big, we still weren't close to the requisite amount. Maybe not a bad thing since it would be tough for just two of us to eat two pounds of fried okra, especially given our ambivalence towards okra in the first place. David scaled back the recipe, and the results were fantastic. Even our older son, seduced by the alluring smells from the kitchen, gave them a try. Admittedly he ate mostly fried batter, but he too was converted into an okra fan.

There are too many variables to decide why this okra is so good. Home grown? Organic? Fresh from the garden? Home cooked? Burmese okra? A good recipe? We'll have to experiment in the kitchen with other recipes to make sure last night wasn't a fluke. And I guess I should try growing a different type of okra next year to see how other okra varieties taste. I'll see how daring I feel when I pick next year's okra variety for the garden, but I'm guessing that I'll have to stick with Burmese. They say you shouldn't mess with success.