Air Fried Okra
A southern side dish reborn in an air fryer.
Okra is thought of as a vegetable of the American south. But it is really consumed all over the planet, particularly in warm climates where the plant thrives. India, for example, has a signature dish called Kurkuri Bhindi, which is okra, cut lengthwise, dredged in chickpea flour and spices, then deep fried.
Okra is decidedly a very weird vegetable. It is actually an edible seed pod that has mucilaginous qualities, which is why some people dislike it. However, it is that viscous quality that gives Cajun Gumbo it's texture and body. In fact, in sub-Saharan Africa, where the vegetable is thought to have originated, the vegetable in some dialects is called gombo and is the likely origin of the word Gumbo, that quintessential New Orleans Cajun dish.
Okra is purported to have come to North American via the slave trade in the mid 17th Century. By the late 18th Century, Thomas Jefferson documented it was a well established crop in Virginia. By 1800, fried okra was pretty much a staple in the South, a culinary fact that still exists today.
I experimented with producing a reasonable facsimile of the traditional Southern Fried Okra recipe in a more healthful and far less arduous method using an air fryer. This is the recipe I settled on.
My Number One Fan, arguably a leading southern authority on Fried Okra, fondly remembers when she was a little girl, her grandmother regularly making the dish in Georgia. Cut into bite size chunks with only the stem portion removed, and dredged in equal parts of flour and corn meal seasoned with salt and pepper, the okra was fried in batches in a cast iron skillet with an ample portion of Crisco that may, on occasion, have also contained bacon fat, which she kept stored in a coffee can on the back of her stove. Her grandmother was able to flip pieces of the frying vegetables in the skillet using only her fingernails.
I like my fried okra with ketchup. My Number One Fan considers this a blasphemy.
Air Fried Okra
Ingredients
- 8 oz fresh okra pods
- 1/3 cup cornmeal
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (like, Kraft)
- 1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs (like, Progresso)
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
- fine-grain sea salt
Instructions
- Wash the okra and dry well, then cut off the stem portion and the skinny tip. Cut the pod into 1/2" - 3/4" pieces.
- Pre-heat the Air Fryer at 400°F for 10 minutes.
- Placing your okra pieces in a small bowl, drizzle over the canola oil, and stir to ensure each okra piece is well coated.
- Combine the cornmeal, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, flour and black pepper and place in a large Ziploc bag.
- Put the okra pieces, a few pieces at a time, in the bag with the coating mix and shake thoroughly to coat each piece. Remove the okra from the bag with a slotted spoon.
- When the Air Fryer is pre-heated, spray the basket with non-stick spray, and place the okra pieces in a single layer on the bottom of the frying basket. Give the okra a light touch of the non-stick spray, then cook at 400°F for 5 minutes.
- Open the Air Fryer and either shake the basket or use a spoon to stir the okra around a little, then spray them again with non-stick spray, and cook an additional 5 minutes at 400°F.
- Remove the okra to a serving dish and dust them with the fine-grain sea salt. You can keep okra in a 275°F oven in a dish lined with paper towels while you make the remaining batch(es).
