When it comes to frying okra no one does it better than my Mama. She uses a simple method that makes delicious crispy fried okra every time. My family has always added a chopped up green tomato when frying okra, they two go really well together making for a wonderful side dish to any meal. With acres of fields planted with vegetables, okra was also fresh when fried as I was growing up. Where I live now, fresh okra is hard to come by but frozen okra works just as well.
Ingredients
- 12 oz frozen cut okra, thawed
- 1 large green tomato, chopped in large pieces
- 3/4 c buttermilkall-purpose flour
- vegetable oil for frying
- salt
Instructions
- Put the thawed okra and chopped tomato in a bowl and stir in the buttermilk. Cover and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour. When ready to fry, remove from the fridge and drain off the buttermilk.
- Put about a cup of flour in a Ziploc bag. Add a couple of handfuls of okra & tomatoes to the bag and shake to coat.
- With a deep fryer heated to 350 degrees, use your hand to get the okra & tomatoes from the bag, shaking off excess flour and carefully dropping in the oil. Fry just until golden and remove to a paper towel lined pan (make sure the pan is big enough so the okra doesn’t lay on top of one another, this is key to the okra remaining crispy).
- Continue frying (adding more flour to the bag as needed), in batches. Once done, sprinkle lightly with salt before serving.