When it comes to frying okra no one does it better than my Mama. She uses a simple method that makes delicious crispy fried okra every time. My family has always added a chopped up green tomato when frying okra, they two go really well together making for a wonderful side dish to any meal. With acres of fields planted with vegetables, okra was also fresh when fried as I was growing up. Where I live now, fresh okra is hard to come by but frozen okra works just as well.

Cook time: 15 Min  Prep time: 1 Hr   Serves: 5-6

Ingredients

12 oz frozen cut okra, thawed
1 large green tomato, chopped in large pieces
3/4 c buttermilk
all-purpose flour
vegetable oil for frying
salt

Directions

1. Put the thawed okra and chopped tomato in a bowl and stir in the buttermilk. Cover and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour. When ready to fry, remove from the fridge and drain off the buttermilk.
2. Put about a cup of flour in a Ziploc bag. Add a couple of handfuls of okra & tomatoes to the bag and shake to coat.
3. With a deep fryer heated to 350 degrees, use your hand to get the okra & tomatoes from the bag, shaking off excess flour and carefully dropping in the oil. Fry just until golden and remove to a paper towel lined pan (make sure the pan is big enough so the okra doesn’t lay on top of one another, this is key to the okra remaining crispy). Continue frying (adding more flour to the bag as needed), in batches. Once done, sprinkle lightly with salt before serving.
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