by Helen Erwin · January 22, 2020 I’m particularly excited to share this because yesterday was the first time that I tried fresh okra and it was delicious! It wasn’t quite what I had expected. I made the mistake a few years ago to buy a package of frozen sliced okra. There is no way I can say this politely, so I’m just going to tell you that it looked and tasted like slime. I hope I don’t offend anyone, but it really did, and as you can imagine I never wanted to try it again after that experience. But the other day a Facebook friend of mine posted about eating spicy fresh okra at a Chinese Restaurant, her pictures looked amazing and nothing at all like those frozen okra slices I tried a few years ago. I decided that that I had to try it and the very next day I bought my first bunch, sliced them up and stir fried them. These I will eat again!I enjoyed them as a side dish with my Cannellini-Chickpea Stew. You’ll find both recipes below. Okra fresh out of the package. Cannellini Chickpea Stew Cannellini Beans Chickpeas Tomato Sauce Water Baby Spinach Red Onion Yellow Onion Fresh Jalapeno Peppers Fresh Cilantro Fresh Thyme Fresh Oregano Fresh Garlic Cumin Vindaloo Salt Begin by sautéing both the yellow onion and the red onion in a large frying pan with some peanut oil. When they’re soft and slightly brown, remove half of them and place them in another pan for when you sauté your okra while the stew putters. Rinse the beans and chickpeas thoroughly and add them to the fried onion in the large pan, you may need to add some more oil as well. Let it cook for a few minutes so they brown slightly and absorb some onion flavor. Once that’s done, add sliced jalapeno’s, tomato sauce, water and all the spices, garlic and herbs. It’s important that it’s wet enough for the jalapenos to cook in a sauce, if they’re fried, they create fumes. Leave this to putter on low to medium heat, add spinach leaves little by little and cover under a lid each time. Spinach shrinks so even if you think you add a lot, you may want to add more after it’s cooked for a bit. Here it is along with fresh spicy okra and red quinoa. Sautéed Fresh Okra Fresh Okra Red and Yellow Onion Hot Indian Chili Powder Cumin Powder Chipotle Powder Prepare the okra by removing the stems and ends. Slice pieces lengthwise, then chop into smaller parts, each about an inch long. Add them to your onion with some peanut oil and your spices and fry on medium to high heat until they’re soft and nicely browned. Delicious and spicy! Share A few words about my recipes