Two fast and simple Chinese language okra salad recipes that contains a daring and wealthy seasoning, crisp okra, and not one of the sliminess. Make this chilly appetizer so as to add coloration, texture and diet to your dinner! {Gluten-Free adaptable, Vegan}
Okra salad has been gaining reputation and I typically see it at Chinese language eating places in New York Metropolis. There are fairly a couple of methods to benefit from the dish and each chef has their very own favourite salad dressing. At present I wish to present you two very fast and simple methods to organize this nutritious and scrumptious vegetable.
Okra salad substances
There are two scrumptious methods to take pleasure in okra salad.
Cantonese dressing
The Cantonese fashion dressing makes use of soy sauce, oyster sauce and Chinkiang vinegar to create a savory umami base that has a zesty and barely candy style. It’s then spiced up with loads of minced garlic and ginger, with a contact of nutty sesame oil. It leads to a really balanced dressing that’s fairly aromatic and pairs very nicely with the blanched okra.
Sichuan-style dressing
The Sichuan-style dressing is considered one of my favourite methods to serve okra salad as a result of it takes 1 minutes to throw collectively.
I launched the magic ingredient for it – inexperienced Sichuan peppercorn oil – in a previous post. Completely different from the nice and cozy style from the red Sichuan peppercorn, the inexperienced selection, has a pointy grasiness that delights the senses. Inexperienced Sichuan peppercorn oil is used within the okra salad so as to add a really distinct aromatic and numbing impact that may be very distinctive. A small quantity goes a great distance.
Along with this ingredient, you solely want a contact of soy sauce to take pleasure in a novel and aromatic okra salad.
You could find inexperienced Sichuan peppercorn oil at Chinese language markets, 50 Hertz Food (my favourite place to get additional recent peppercorn oil), and at The Mala Market.
Continuously requested questions
How do you prepare dinner okra with out it going slimy?
Okra typically will get a foul popularity because of the slimy texture it will get if it’s not ready correctly.
For okra salad, the easiest way is to blanch the okra entire with out slicing it. In the event you reduce it after which blanch it, it’s going to make a multitude in your pot and you’ll by no means do away with the sliminess. As soon as cooked, you possibly can both serve the okra entire, slice off the ends for a greater texture, or slice every pod in half lengthwise for a pleasant look.
Sure, the cooked okra may nonetheless have a touch of the sliminess while you chunk into it, relying on the range you get. However paired with the daring seasoning, that a part of the feel is much less noticeable.
Methods to get the most effective okra texture?
To get the most effective texture and probably the most diet worth out of okra, the easiest way is to keep away from overcooking it. In the event you like a agency texture, I’d blanch the okra for 1 minute and not more than 1.5 minutes. You’ll be able to prepare dinner it for as much as 2 minutes for a softer texture, however positively not more than that.
As soon as completed, you must both use an ice tub or run chilly faucet water to chill off the okra, so it gained’t proceed to prepare dinner within the residual warmth.
What does okra salad pair nicely with?
Okra salad is usually served in Chinese language eating places as a chilly appetizer. You’ll be able to definitely put together it forward of time when you’re cooking a multi-course meal. Its crispy texture, wealthy sauce, and considerably refreshing style pairs nicely with most Chinese language dishes, particularly the savory sort that has a young texture.
Listed below are a number of the dishes I like to serve it with:
Afterthought
Okra shouldn’t be a conventional Chinese language vegetable and it solely began to get well-liked in China during the last decade or so. However I fell in love with this vegetable once I was residing in Japan. Okra salad is considered one of my favourite methods to take pleasure in okra, due to how simple it’s to place it collectively and its nice style. I hope you take pleasure in it!
Chinese language Okra Salad, Two Methods (凉拌秋葵)
Servings: 2 to 4 servings
Components
Dressing 1 – Cantonese fashion (Footnote 1)
Dressing 2 – Sichuan fashion
Directions
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Deliver a medium pot of water to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon vegetable oil and a pinch of salt, so the okra may have a vibrant coloration as soon as blanched (Non-obligatory). Boil the okra till simply turning tender, 1 minute for al dente or 2 minutes for a extra tender texture. Drain, rinse with chilly faucet water or use an ice tub to cease cooking, drain once more and pat dry completely with paper towels. Reduce off the powerful finish and the stem off the okra and discard them (Non-obligatory, Footnote 2). Then switch the okra to a bowl or tall plate.
If utilizing the Cantonese fashion seasoning
If utilizing the Sichuan fashion seasoning
Notes
- This recipe yields fairly a little bit of dressing. You should use as much as 10 oz (300 g) okra without having to extend the dressing quantity.
- The highest a part of the okra is edible however typically it may be powerful. I desire to chop it off to enhance the feel of the dish, however I’ve seen it served each methods in eating places.
- The dietary info are calculated primarily based on “dressing 1”.
Vitamin
Serving: 1serving, Energy: 45kcal, Carbohydrates: 6.3g, Protein: 1.5g, Fats: 1.3g, Saturated Fats: 0.2g, Sodium: 257mg, Potassium: 200mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 1.5g, Calcium: 51mg, Iron: 1mg