Wierd looking veggies!

[onesmartcookie]

Ok, so last night we popped by our local fruit and veggie market to grab some things for dinner and in one of the bins I saw Okra. Ok, people were buying it like crazy and I thought.. what is that, what do I do with it and what does it taste like?

Today is the BIG feast for Rhamadan and they are preparing for the feast so many of the dishes are vegetarian for those that are vegetarian. I have many Indian friends who are very excited about this and I saw many buying this veggie. My understanding was that this food was largly used in the Southern US, etc. and I'm very curious about this odd little green thing!

OSC

[photogirl67]

okra is widely used in the middle east, Lebanese, Indian, etc. I personally don't like it much but maybe I haven't had the right dish. I was exposed to it as a kid at my dad's friend's houses.

[onesmartcookie]

My Personal Challenge was to try more veggies. Here we go!

Daikon, baby. No, not the singer!

Here's a recipe that I found on the internet, altered and made my own!

1- 3 pound Daikon, peeled and corsely grated.
1 Tablespoon of prepared mustard. You could easily use mustard powder to taste.
3 Celery stalks thinly sliced.
2 Large grated Carrots.
1/3 cup of Raisins
Udo's Oil.
Black Pepper.
Chopped Cillantro.

This originally called for Mayo but I didn't want it. I added the carrots, Udo's , Cillantro and Raisins. Instead of Cillantro you could use chopped Parsley.

What the heck is a Daikon? Check this out! Try some new Veggies today!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daikon

OSC

[photogirl67]

How was it? sounds good.

You can cook daikon too, put it in soups, etc.

[onesmartcookie]

okra is widely used in the middle east, Lebanese, Indian, etc. I personally don't like it much but maybe I haven't had the right dish. I was exposed to it as a kid at my dad's friend's houses.

Here's my attempt at creating a dish with Okra.


Onesmartcookie’s Funky Okra Gumbo

One red onion diced
1 cup of fresh Okra sliced
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
½ cup of green pepper diced
Ground pepper
Cumin
Cayenne Pepper
Bragg's Sprinkle
½ lemon squeezed
Can of whole tomatoes (low sodium) or fresh tomoatoes
Shrimp (must be cooked already!)
Brown Rice

Trim ends off Okra and slice into coins. Saute onions and green peppers in olive oil until brown. Add tomatoes and spices until heated through, bubbling. Add frozen cooked shrimp and Okra. Cook until Okra slightly soft (I don’t like mine mushy!) and shrimp heated through. Serve over rice or stir in rice

. Yep, Okra is weird and a bit slimy. I tried soaking it in water with vinegar which supposedly aids in preventing the slimy-ness. I’m not sure, I wouldn’t know otherwise since this was my first attempt!

OSC

[photogirl67]

how was it?

[onesmartcookie]

It was delicious! Mike liked it until I described the slime, etc. Heh. Funny that! It didn't have much taste really...