‘Growing up, There Was Never Enough Okra’

Corbie Hill is a freelance writer who lives in the woods in Chatham County, near Pittsboro, N.C. He once wrote about okra for Our State magazine. 

Hill figured he was highly qualified for the assignment, having grown up in Pamlico County eating okra and loving it. 

“We had okra in stews and soups and spaghetti sauces; we had it boiled. Mostly, though, we ate it fried,” Hill said. “There was something irresistible about okra after it had been chopped, breaded and pan-fried to within a shade of blackened.” 

“Trouble is, there was never enough,” he said. 

To complement the yield from the Hill family garden, more fresh okra pods had to be purchased from Paul’s Produce, an iconic roadside stand, located on N.C. Route 55, about halfway between Oriental and Stonewall. 

Today, Corbie Hill finds his okra on a fancy plate, served by Angelina Koulizakis-Battiste of Angelina’s Kitchen in Pittsboro. 

She prepares okra “slightly sautéed in olive oil – which is what she thinks is ‘fried’ okra,” Hill said with a laugh. 

 

‘What is that green stuff?’

 Liz Biro, a columnist for the online newsletter produced by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, is a former food editor. She remembers that she got her first glimpse of okra as an 8-year-old.

Her family had just moved from New Jersey to eastern North Carolina, and they were invited to a big covered dish spread in their new community.

“What’s that green stuff?” Liz quietly asked her mother who replied with a hushed voice: “I have no idea.” 

What is was…was okra.

“Okra doesn’t make friends easily. People don’t mind when it’s hidden in the Creole gumbos,” Biro said. “On its own, though, okra is an old-timer’s favorite that has never charmed the masses.”

“Yet, there’s much to love about okra,” she said. “Some southern cooks boil, fry, sauté or grill whole okra, the stem barely trimmed, to keep the mucilage contained.”

“My mother fried sliced okra, sans cornmeal, in a heavy skillet, adding fresh, chopped hot pepper and plenty of salt.” The mucilage browned the okra, “making it almost crunchy,” Biro said. “I still crave the flavor and recreate the dish as soon as fresh okra season arrives, late summer in eastern North Carolina.” 

“These days, I also like to slowly pan roast whole okra over low heat in a cast-iron skillet to which I add a little grapeseed oil. I turn the okra now and then to brown all sides and sometimes pour a small amount of water into pan to help steam-soften the pods as they brown.” Biro said.

“During the last few minutes of cooking, I sprinkle on Indian spices like turmeric, cumin and whole black mustard seeds. Prepared this way, okra has a nice chew and welcomes a cool yogurt dipping sauce.”