Okra is known as ladies’ fingers in the English-speaking countries. Okra has great health benefits like calcium, vitamin B, and C, also manages the blood sugar and gestational diabetes, it has high dietary fiber content and low in calories.
I love okra, as well as family, we really liked and enjoyed eating this dish, I usually serve it with homemade Iraqi bread (check the recipe in the Baghdad Cuisine website) or with Basmati rice. There is no meat added into this dish and it makes an excellent vegetarian dish. I like the taste and the flavor of the okra, for that reason I do not like to add lots of spices. Okra is one of the most popular and favorites dishes in Iraq, it is cooked with lamb or beef and usually, no spices are added except salt and garlic the taste of the meat and the okra flavor really comes out. Check out the recipe Maraq Bamia (Okra with Tomatoes Sauce) in the website, this is another great okra dish
Ingredient
5 Tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves crushed
3 tablespoon gingers crushed
½ jalapeno pepper crushed
1 cup green onions chopped
1 cups celery chopped
1 red onion chopped
4 cups okra cut
¼ cup of water
3 tomatoes chopped
2 cups of crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Black pepper
1 teaspoon chili peppers
Salt as preferred
1 cup cilantro
Direction
In a pan add the olive oil, garlic, ginger and jalapeno pepper cook them for 2 minutes or until golden brown. Add the green onion, celery and red onion cook for 3 to 4 minutes then add the okra and water cover and lower the heat, let it cook for 10 to 15 minutes until the okra gives it light brown color or until half cooked. Add the tomatoes and crushed tomatoes, Cumin, Black pepper, chili peppers, let it boil then cover lower the heat and let it cook for 25 minutes. Add the cilantro and mix well.
