Fried Okra

Hi guys , I'm Laura Italian on this episode of Lauren in kitchen .

I am so excited to share with you how I like to make my fried okra .

Um I had this years ago uh in Savannah , Georgia and fell absolutely in love this along with fried pickles fell in love so delicious .

I shared a couple weeks ago that I had made a batch .

Uh I shared it on Instagram and I had a ton of people ask for the recipe .

It's so easy and simple .

This is my take on it .

But if you make it differently , I would love to hear it down below how you make it .

Um A lot of people ask me what does fried okra tastes like to me .

Listen to me .

It tastes like fried zucchini to me .

But you know you do .

You bill .

Let's get started .

I'm gonna show you what you need .

You'll need some milk and an egg .

You can also just use butter , milk if you want to .

And then I've got a combination of corn meal and some flour and then you'll need your fresh okra and this is just my um my homemade seasoned salt So that's all it is .

And then you'll need some frying oil and you're gonna have to make a little bit of a dipping sauce because honestly , without it , it's just not the same and I'll share with you what you need for that .

Then let's talk .

Okra .

This is sort of what you wanna look like .

I like the , the smaller pieces .

Um , it's sort of slimy on the inside .

That's what it looks like on the inside .

It's kind of slimy on the inside .

Uh But when you crisp it up , it's just absolutely divine .

I don't love the super big pieces of okra .

So find the tender pieces and I just like to leave these little bits out .

It's not my favorite .

So I'm just gonna go ahead and chop it all up , like I said , about half an inch thick or so .

Um , while my oil is preheating and then we move forward .

All right .

Once you got that all cut up , season your egg and milk , season your cornmeal flour .

And I've got my , um , this is just my house seasoning is what I call it .

It's got paprika , some salt , garlic onion and some parsley .

Easy , right .

Easy , easy , easy .

Whisk those together , then whisk this together .

Get your oil nice and hot .

OK ?

And do just probably just do two batches and I'll show you take half of that , put them in there like , so I just want to test the oil real quick nearly there crank that up a little .

Ok .

And then shake off all the excess .

You can also , like I said , instead of doing oil , I'm sorry , instead of doing egg and milk , you can just do plain buttermilk that works as well .

Coat them in that like so , ok , I just do one of these , all the excess falls through .

It's a great trick .

Great , great trick .

And like I said , I'm gonna just do this in two batches just because there's a lot here .

Shake off the excess in the hot oil that goes and all that needs in just a few minutes .

I'm gonna get a paper towel going to get these drained .

Then I'll do the second batch .

Then we mix the sauce , then we snack in , he's knocking second batch out .

You can cook them as crispy , as dark or as light as you want .

Just make sure that you let them absorb on some paper towel .

I like them real crispy jo like them a little bit less .

That's for everything .

By the way , there's a running joke in this house that if we make pizza , I like my pizza .

Really charred and really well done .

Him .

Not so much .

If we buy French fries .

I like mine soup or the burger being well done .

Not so much .

So running jokes .

So there's a little bit for everybody .

Now , these are perfect and gorgeous .

I'm not gonna season them anymore because there was quite a bit of uh the seasoning in the milk mixture and in the flour mixture .

So now to make the sauce , this is super simple .

I've got some mayo , some whole grain mustard .

I've got some dill pickles here along with the pickle juice .

This is completely how you want it .

You are just the seasoning , how you want .

This is just how I like it .

I've got garlic here and I've got paprika , add those in a little more half seasoning .

OK ?

Give that a really good stir and you serve like I said , you can make the sauce however you like it .

If you don't like dill and you like bringing butter do that , you can use relish , you could use whatever you can use .

No pickles at all .

Just add a splash of vinegar .

But to me , this is my favorite .

This is a great , great sauce to serve with a lot of things .

Oh , it's so good .

The crunch is unbelievable .

I'm telling you , we don't really have fried okra on the menu .

Many places around here in Jersey .

So when you've got fabulous neighbors that grow the okra and you just happen to receive some , then you get to really reap the benefits of something as delicious as fried okra .

It's very simple and easy to make .

I will have the recipe on the um website for you online in the kitchen dot com .

I hope that you give it a try .

You're gonna love it .

I know you will .

I'll see you next time .

Bye .