Lunch Sunday 17 December - Stewed Okra & Cornbread

Stewed Okra
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 fat tomatoes, chopped (about 300g)
1 onion, chopped (about 150g)
3 medium stalks celery
1 red or green pepper, chopped
5-6 green chillis (or to taste)
1/2 pint vegetable stock
280g okra, trimmed and cut into 1" lengths
small handful fresh parsley, chopped
filé powder - if you can get it

Saute the garlic and onions in the oil until soft and lightly browned. Add the chopped tomatoes, peppers, chillis, celery and vegetable stock and cook covered, over low heat, for about 30 minutes.

When the vegetables are very tender and the stock is reduced, add the okra and cook for about another 10-15 minutes, until the okra is just done. Stir in the parsley and just before serving, add the filé gumbo powder

Makes 2 servings.

Nutrition Data per serving
Calories (kcal) 134.7
Carbohydrate (g) 17.8
Protein (g) 6.6
Fat (g) 4.5
Fibre (g) 9.1

Well, I know okra is one of those "love it or hate it" foods, but I love it. Most people have just had it badly cooked and stringy. Stewed okra (sort of a gumbo without the rice or meat) and cornbread muffins is pure white trash Southern comfort food to me.

I got a big bag of okra (aka lady's fingers) in the market today for a quid and got stewing with it's "Cajun trilogy" mates . I even have some filé gumbo (powdered sassafras leaf) brought back from the US to make it 100% authentic!


Cornbread Muffins
150g plain flour
90g yellow corn meal
50g sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 teaspoons (yup - 5) baking powder
1 large free range organic egg
10ml semi skimmed milk
30g butter, melted


Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl or measuring cup, mix together the milk, egg and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry all at once and mix just enough the incorporate all the ingredients - do not over mix.

Divide the mixture between 8 paper lined cupcake tins and bake at Gas Mark 6 for about 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned.

Makes 8 muffins.

Nutrition Data per muffin
Calories (kcal) 168.2
Carbohydrate (g) 30.0
Protein (g) 4.3
Fat (g) 3.8
Fibre (g) 1.3

Here are some sassafras leaves. Filé powder or filé gumbo is just dried, powdered sassafras leaves. It adds a unique flavour to the dish, but must not be cooked for it goes all stringy and unpleasant.


Here is an interesting article about how to make your own filé .