My sweetheart loves his fried okra. I am ashamed to say I usually just buy the pre-breaded kind from Food Lion but this time I decided to suck it up and buy it fresh and do it myself. I started with fresh okra pods.
I chopped the ends off and discarded them and then chopped the pods into about 1/4" slices.
Next I broke two eggs into a bowl and beat them (they were naughty and deserved a good beating!).
I added the sliced okra and let them soak up the egg for about 10 minutes.
While the okra was soaking I got my hot grease ready. I used shortening instead of vegetable oil. I figured if I was going to fry something, I should do it right.
When the oil was ready I transferred the okra out of the egg into a mixture of 1 cup of corn meal mixed with garlic powder, onion powder and a healthy dose of cayenne pepper.
Next I dropped (carefully) the okra into the hot shortening and let it fry until golden brown.
When they were finished I transferred them onto a plate with paper towels to drain and sprinkled with some sea salt. My husband and son enjoyed them.
Overall it was a success and was actually more enjoyable than pulling them frozen from a bag. I guess I will never by pre-made ones again!
