Smothered okra & eggplant
1 Servings
Ingredients
| Quantity | Ingredient | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | x | * * * *SEASONING MIX * * * * |
| 1½ | teaspoon | Onion powder |
| 1 | teaspoon | Salt (omit if use canned |
| Tomatoes with salt) | ||
| 1 | teaspoon | Dried mustard |
| 1 | teaspoon | Dried thyme leaves |
| ½ | teaspoon | Garlic powder |
| ½ | teaspoon | Ground black pepper |
| ½ | teaspoon | Ground white pepper (or use |
| All black) | ||
| ½ | teaspoon | Dill weed |
| ⅛ | teaspoon | Cayenne pepper (red pepper) |
| 1 | x | * * * *RECIPE * * * * * * * |
| 2 | cups | Chopped onion, in all |
| 1 | cup | Chopped green bell pepper |
| (or red bell pepper) | ||
| 2 | cups | Chopped okra, in all |
| 1 | medium | Eggplant, peeled 1 cup |
| Finely diced, remaining | ||
| medium | Diced. | |
| 3 | cups | Fresh tomatoes chopped, or 2 |
| can | Diced tomatoes | |
| ½ | cup | Tomato sauce (omit if using |
| Canned tomatoes which | ||
| Already have lots of juice) | ||
| 1 | cup | Apple juice |
Directions
1) Mix spices in a small bowl. 2) Combine 1 cup of chopped onion, 1 cup finely chopped eggplant, 1 cup of okra (I put in a food processor and pulse to chop finely) 3) Heat non-stick skillet or pot over high heat about 4 minutes. Add chopped vegetables, bell pepper and seasoning mix, stir and cook for about 5 minutes. Vegetables should stick to bottom of pan, then you unstick and stir them so that they carmelize (brown) a little but don't burn. 4) Stir in 1 cup of apple juice, stir to unstick from bottom, add 1 cup of tomatoes. Cook, stirring occasionally until most of liquid evaporates, about 20 minutes. 5) Add remaining onions, okra, eggplant and tomatoes (tomato sauce if used). Scrape to clear bottom and cook 10 minutes or more until eggplant is cooked.
Notes --- This is from Paul Prudhomme's Fork in the Road. I used to be warry of okra, but in Oklahoma in the heat of August it's about the only vegetable that still grows (even the tomatoes stop setting fruit when it gets too hot). I also used frozen okra. I like the okra in this recipe. When well cooked, the gumminess goes away and its serves as a thickener to the dish. If you're warry of okra, you might want to reduce the total amount to 1 cup and let the eggplant and tomotoes dominate. Prudhomme always uses onion powder and garlic powder in his spice mixes, which I used to think was redundant when using real onions, but it actually imparts a different flavor. He places great emphasis on cooking the vegetables a long time in a non-stick skillet and letting them brown a little to carmelize and develop the flavors, and it does pay to be patient. The original recipe had a total of 2½ cups of apple juice, but that seemed like too much to me and I already had plenty of liquid from the canned tomatoes.
From: maoh@... (Maureen O'Halloran). Fatfree Digest [Volume 1 Issue 1] June 22, 1994 Formatted by Sue Smith, S.Smith34, TXFT40A@... using MMCONV
: From Paul Prudhomme's _A Fork in the Road_ :