Food Focus - April 2024 - Crispy Fried Okra

In case you were wondering how okra became a part of my Filipino Food Month, I did a little research tracing the path of the plant to the Philippines. The okra plant originated in East Africa, specifically in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and eastern Sudan. It was introduced into Europe in the early 720s when the Umayyad Empire (part of the Muslim conquest of Europe) defeated the Visigothic Kingdom territory of Roman Hispania (now known as Portugal and Spain). In 1565, Spain conquered the Philippines, establishing Manila as its capital and ruled there until the late 1880s. It is during this 333 years rule that it is thought that okra was introduced to the agricultural and culinary culture of the Philippines. 

I was surprised to find okra as an offering on the Filipino recipe site I was reading. Okra, where I live, is occasionally hard to find and definitely is not something typically found on menus. We used to have a BBQ restaurant here that had good southern fried okra, but they closed. Since we no longer live in the American South, it is difficult for my husband to get to enjoy a part of his childhood. Upon discovering this recipe as part of my culinary adventure, I knew I needed to find a way to make this happen for my husband. I scoured the local farmer's markets and stalked the various grocery stores until finally, at one of our local asian food markets, they posted that they had received a shipment of okra. Now it's time to fry! 

Dare I admit that I have a weirdness to frying things? I don't mind shallow frying, but I struggle with deep frying because 1) the amount of oil used, 2) wasting or disposal of this large amount of oil, 3) do I have the right equipment to fry (scoopers and thermometers), and 4) it's such a greasy way to cook. I have an air fryer, but not as a replacement for frying things. I mean, I do have a convection oven which allows me to cook food at the same temperature as an air fryer. Overall, though, I haven't fried much in my cooking life. But I was determined to overcome this silliness and I dove headfirst into purchasing a good thermometer for my really good pot. I purchased the spider strainers. I dug out my wire racks for drying. I felt prepared to tackle what I hoped would be a delicious dish!

And we were not disappointed! This recipe, after you get past your own mental blocks, is a cinch. I loved the use of the wire racks for "draining" the cooked okra. It kept them from getting mushy and they stayed extra crispy all around. I might actually use it for my other shallow frying items, such as potato pancakes. I love the use of cornstarch. I've used it before when  shallow frying and it always gives such a nice crisp to the item cooking. 

These crispy fried okra were great on their own, but I'm a dipper. I love to dip things in dips... like ketchup! Through my recipe reading I had learned of something called Banana Ketchup or Banana Sauce. I couldn't help myself and I got a bottle to dip these in (and also use as a little dip for the Torta recipe). Banana Ketchup is a Filipino fruit ketchup that uses banana, sugar, vinegar, and other spices. It does not use tomatoes. While it is not supposed to be red, it is dyed that way to resemble the more traditional tomato ketchup (mind games!). When I tried it, it is definitely ketchup like, but it is sweeter, more gelatinous, and has a little kick if you eat more than a reserved dip of it.

But how did tomato-based-ketchup even become a thing in the Philippines? I'm not going to talk about the origins of ketchup and the... fish entrails... based sauce called "ge-thcup" that spread throughout trade routes in Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines. I'm talking about what Heinz revolutionized in America in the late 1870s. According to my research, what I've come to understand as ketchup entered Filipino culture when the United States took over the Philippines from Spain at the end of the 1890s as a result of the Spanish-American War. As Americans started to enter the community, they brought, among other things, ketchup to the Philippines and it became a popular condiment. The banana ketchup was created later out of a wartime necessity. During WWII in the Philippines there was a tomato shortage. Traditional tomatoes were difficult to cultivate in the Philippine climate and the favored red tomatoes were expensive to import. What was abundant, though, were bananas and plantains. Native Filipino Maria Orosa is noted as being the inventor of this now much beloved sauce.

Overall, I loved finding this recipe, because it allowed me to deep dive to understand more about the influences and history of the Philippines. I was able to make a delicious dish that made my husband so happy he said this would have been the dish that would have made him lock this down. I learned that bananas are delicious as a ketchup. And most importantly, I learned my daughter is still hard to please with unique and delicious food. I will end with you all feeling safe in the knowledge that I will, in fact, be deep frying again, because I now have everything I need to do it effectively (including disposal). So make this dish and try that ketchup. Mmmmhmmm.

Recipe from:  https://www.kawalingpinoy.com/fried-okra/