My neighbor gives me the most beautiful okra I have ever seen, but most of it is too tough to use. It seemed a shame to throw them away.
I tried to make okra soup in my soup blender. I just added enough water to cover the okra then let the blender cook and blend the okra. I had to strain the fibers out but had this lovely okra juice.
The okra “soup” replaces some of the milk in my regular corn bread recipe. Delicious!
If you don’t have okra, try my soul corn bread recipe! Click.here.
A great dish to have with this is my New Year’s black-eyed peas. Best recipe! Click here.
Okra Corn bread
This corn bread is a good use for okra that is too tough to use any other way. It adds an interesting flavor to the corn bread and is almost cake like in texture.
Print Recipe
Equipment
- 12 cup muffin pan
- Cast iron skillet (12") optional
- Cooking blender Pampered Chef and Ninja both make cooking blenders that cook and blend your soup. Highly recommend! See notes if you do not have one .
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Cup Organic corn meal
- 1 1/2 Cup All Purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
- 1 Tbsp Baking soda
- 1/4 Cups Plant milk
- 3/4 Cups Okra soup
- 1/2 Tsp Himalayan Salt
- 1 Tbsp Coconut oil
Instructions
- Wash okra and cut off the stems. Slice lengthwise then in half and place in cooking blender. (See notes if you have no cooking blender).
- Add enough water to cover the okra and turn the blender on smooth soup. (Defaults to 30 minutes).
- Push soup through a strainer to eliminate the fibers. set aside,
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Put coconut oil in skillet or muffin pan and place into oven to heat the oil.
- Measure all dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix well.
- Add okra soup and milk to the dry ingredients and stir to incorporate. Add a little hot oil from the hot pan and stir to mix in. This should be like a thick cake batter.
- Pour batter into hot skillet or muffin pan and place in hot oven.
- This will take from 45 minutes to 60 minutes to bake. It takes 60 in my conventional oven and 45 in my convection oven. It should be a dark golden brown and the edges should be coming well away from the pan. It will shorten the time about 20 minutes if using the muffin pan.
- Remove. Within 5 minutes, place a plate on top of the corn bread and use both hands to flip the cornbread onto the plate. Allow to cool 10 minutes before cutting.
Notes
This is a Snap Pea Sheep recipe.
If you do not have a cooking blender, cut the okra into 1" pieces and place in a sauce pan. Cover with water and boil the okra until the skins seem soft. Allow to cool then transfer to a blender. Blend on smoother for about 5 minutes to get it as smooth as possible. I doubt an immersion blender would work.
I used very tough okra that were too fibrous even for soups and stews. For that reason, I had to strain the okra to remove the rough fibers. If you use tender okra, you could probably eliminate this step.
Try adding jalapeño, okra slices, or chopped pepperoncini peppers for a variation.
You might asl try adding some 1/4" slices of more tender okra to the bottom of the pan before adding the batter.
The difference between a 10" and 12" pan will vary the thickness and cooking time of the corn bread.
If the corn bread seems a little gooey still, put it back in the pan and continue baking for another 10 minutes. Even if sliced.
This recipe uses coconut oil. The oil in the pan makes the crust and the oil in the bread makes it a little fluffier.
I've never tried it, but this could be baked in a non-stick pan with no oil.
Paper muffin liners can be used in place of oil as well.
