Final day of the 10th edition of blogging marathon and my theme is “Guilt Free Snacks”. This has been my favorite theme and I absolutely enjoyed making dishes for this marathon. An interesting conversation between my friend and me. She normally asks me what I was making for the blog any time she sees me. Same question the other day and I was explaining about my “Guilt Free Snack” theme and how I was lining up dishes for it. She replied “what is new? Isn’t that what you normally do?”. Well, I think that is probably why I enjoyed this series more as it fits well with my routine.
Okra (Vendakka) is our favorite vegetable and I have until now made only the usual fry, sambar and kuzhambu with it. Breaded okra crossed my mind all of a sudden this past week and I recollected seeing them in the frozen aisle. I was skeptical initially to try out something new with our favorite veggie, but still decided to go ahead. Glad I did because we loved the crunchy breaded okra. Recipe adapted from VegetarianTimes. Off to the recipe.
Frozen/Fresh Okra (Use as much as needed)
1/2 cup cornmeal (You may need more or less depending on the quantity of okra)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Method
Mix cornmeal, salt and pepper in a bowl.
I have used frozen okra. If using fresh okra, cut into pieces.
Again if using fresh okra dip it in milk or egg and then coat with corn meal. Frozen okra was wet enough to hold the cornmeal and I directly dropped the pieces into cornmeal mixture.
Coat the pieces thoroughly.
Spray a baking sheet and spread the okra in it. Place in a preheated 400F oven for 30 minutes shaking the pan once in the middle.
Out of the oven, nice and crispy. The bottom had browned well. Next time I will probably spray the top also so the top browns too.
Healthy and guilt free okra ready for munching. Cornmeal has the texture of sooji and it added to the crunchiness.
Enjoy!
Linking to following events.
Bake Fest #1 hosted here, Valli’s Snacks Mela,
Bake Fest #1 hosted here, Valli’s Snacks Mela,
I tried baking my orka per your recipe and, after a couple of bites, decide it was not worth eating and I threw the remainder in the trash! It was much too dry to enjoy. I am sticking with frying my okra in a little oil. Some things just don’t need to be changed!
So excited to try this with okra fresh out of the garden. I soaked it for awhile in one beaten egg with a cup of milk. I loved it! However it did turn out kind of tough. Any suggestions?
Was the okra not tender enough? Sometimes they are tough when removed from the plant. You can also try to reduce the oven temperature next time.
I have to admit that I was leery of these recipes (any of the “oven fried okra”) because most of the recipes I looked at got horrible reviews…I am soooooo glad I tried this!!!
I used a lot of pepper and a seasoned salt in addition to regular salt because so many of these recipes said the okra had no flavor.
We just took them out of the oven and are thoroughly impressed! The okra is DELISH! I used fresh so I soaked it in a milk/egg mix for a while…had no prob with the cornmeal/bread crumb mix sticking. I will make this again, and gain, and again! Thank you!!!
This looks great and I love your pictures! Going to try it tonight. Thanks