Okra Stew Recipe

Peel and wash the onions and garlic cloves and chop them into fine pieces. Put a pot on the stove and heat some oil. Once it gets hot, add the chopped onions to the pot and sauté them for a couple of minutes until translucent.

Now add the garlic to the pot and sauté for a few minutes until it releases its aroma. Then add turmeric to the pot and sauté to mix it with the ingredients and give a golden hue to them.

Wash and pat dry the meat. Chop it into medium size chunks. It should be about 4 to 6 centimeters in size, not too large or small. The size of the meat chunks affects the looks of the stew and makes it tricky to cook them. Moreover, you should use meat that has some fat to give this stew an appealing look and taste. You can also use chicken breast or thigh for this stew, but you need to use 600 to 800 grams of them.

Add the chopped meat to the pot and sauté them while stirring for about 10 to 15 minutes until it changes color. The meat releases some liquid while sauteing and absorbs it back again. Sauté the meat only until it changes its color because by overcooking them, it may become too hard and take more time to cook in the following steps.

Peel the tomatoes and grate them. Add the grated tomatoes to the pot and sauté them a little. Then add tomato paste and cook until the raw taste and smell of the tomato paste are removed. In addition to having a positive effect on the taste of the stew, sautéing the tomato paste makes the stew more colorful at the end.

Now add 4 cups of water and turn the heat to high. Once the water reaches a boil, reduce it to low and let it simmer gently. The essential point about Persian stews is the time you put into simmering. The longer it simmers, the more delicious it becomes. So you should turn the heat to very low and let it simmer for hours. Traditionally in Iran, people let it simmer from the beginning of the day to reach an excellent taste and thickness by noon.

While the meat is cooked, wash the okra and cut their stems off. Be careful not to cut the okra since it will negatively affect the appearance of the stew. Use fine okra, which has a much more cohesive texture than coarse one and will not fall apart easily during cooking.

Now sauté them with oil on the heat for about 5 to 10 minutes. Stir them gently as needed. Sautéing the okras help them not fall apart while cooking and keep them intact.

After about two to three hours, when the meat is cooked and becomes tender, add the okras, salt, black pepper, and lemon juice to the pot. You can also substitute lemon juice with verjuice or unripe sour grapes.

Now let the stew gently simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes so that, in addition to cooking the okra, the stew thickens and the liquid evaporates. Okra stew is of the stews that should be served moist but not watery.

Another important point about this stew is to not simmer the okra for a long time since they will be crushed and spoil the appearance of the stew. When the stew reaches a nice consistency, transfer it to a bowl, serve it with steamed rice, and pair it with Torshi or olive. Enjoy your meal!