Okra Salad

A few months ago I was flipping through the channels while waiting for the clock to strike 12  so I could go and fetch my son from preschool, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything caught my eye. It was this salad that caught my attention. He was watching this chef called Suvir Saran make an okra salad and it looked so simple and delicious that I decided to give it a try.  The local farmer's markets have loads of tender okras, never buy large ones as they are quite hard, they are sometimes known as ladies' fingers or bindi or bandaka.   So here is my version of that salad.

Okra Salad; recipe adapted from Suvir Saran's Crispy Okra Salad 

150- 175 g  okra/ladies' fingers/ bindi
1 medium tomato, deseeded, cut into strips
1 red or green chilli sliced
Juice of 1 lime
1 small shallot or half-small onion, finely sliced into half-moons
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp tumeric
oil for deep frying

1. Cut the stems of the okra, cut in half length-wise, then cut each half into three or four strips, length-wise. Mix with tumeric and a pinch of salt. Deep fry in batches in hot oil till crispy and dark green. Drain on kitchen paper or towel

2. Place the onion slices in a bowl, squeeze in the lime with a pinch of salt and scrunch with your fingers to soften and release their flavour. Add your chilli and tomato mix and leave for the flavours to develop.

3. Place your okra in the bowl you are going to serve, using your finger add your onion, and tomato mixture, dont add the liquid at the bottom as it makes the okra too soggy.  Mix everything gently, taste adjust the seasoning, and drizzle a little of the lime juice in the bottom of the previous bowl if necessary.

Serve as soon as possible.

If you are wondering how he ate it, well,  I  loaded his plate before he had the chance to say no , didnt gag or pull a face, which means it went down well.