Okra Week: Fried Okra!

I had a hankering for some good soul food, so I made some "fried" okra. I'm told that okra is a nightshade and is macrobiotically discouraged, so if you're healing, this one might produce some mucus for you.

The recipe is inspired by a traditional Southern recipe for fried pickles, and can easily be swapped for pickles if you replace the okra with pickle spears, towel dried.

"FRIED" OKRA

2 cups GF crispy brown rice cereal (try Erewhon's GF Brown Rice Cereal)
3 tsp. fresh chopped dill
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp. zested lemon peel
Olive Oil
10-15 okra or 10-15 dill pickle spears if you want fried pickles

Wash and slice okra into disks about 1/4-1/2 an inch thick, discarding tops & bottoms. In a separate bowl, crush brown rice cereal with your hands, and combine dill, sea salt, zested lemon peel, and mix all. Dip disks in olive oil, then toss in the dry mix until coated, and place disks on a wire cooling rack over a flat cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for about 13 minutes.

BECKY'S NOTE ON "FRYING"

One of my favorite tricks for "frying" things is this crushed brown rice and olive oil. It can be remixed and added to pretty much anything, but the trick to getting an even crispiness is to set whatever is being baked on a wire rack on top of a cookie sheet. This allows the bottom of the fish or vegetable to crisp.