vegan Cornmeal Baked Okra

Okra Star or Okra Sun, whatever fancy name I want to give it, this is really a light snack called Oven Baked Cornmeal Okra.  

I actually have an ulterior motive for sharing this post today and presenting it like the sunshine ray of sorts, I am off on my first long (more than a long weekend) holiday in years - I am going to South of France, the journey begins tomorrow, so I will be taking a proper rest from blogging for a week or so.

Back to the Cornmeal Baked Okra.  Think crispy 'fish' fingers, crispy 'chicken' wings and you get the idea.  This is awesome and I say that as someone who has become a convert of the okra, lady fingers aka Bindi.  I absolutely hated it when I was growing up, but in the last 10 years or so, I have come to appreciate okra  much much more.  The viscous texture associated with okra disappears completely on baking.  What is more delightful about this finger food is that the okra is enhanced with  spices and crunch from the baked cornmeal.  You could easily chop these into bite size pieces and make turn them into Baked Cornmeal Okra Popcorn!

I've been selfishly hogging  Caribbean Modern by Shivi Ramoutar, a cookbook from the library. I have praised my library many times as I get to look at cookbooks that I would not ordinarily flick through or even buy, but I have been salivating and gawping at the recipes in this book for well over a month.  I have bookmarked a number of recipes, including this one for Cornmeal Baked Okra, but as I was doing  Vegan Mofo last month I wanted to stay committed to a vegan diet and adapted it.  The only change really being substituting the buttermilk with home-made vegan buttermilk and using a home-made Cajun spice. 

Vegan Cornmeal Baked Okra.

Also as I was looking on blogosphere for a link up to the original recipe, I noted lots of other versions dubbed as Okra Po'Boys, Okra Popcorn and Crunchy Baked Okra.  This version however is Inspired and adapted from  Caribbean Modern by Shivi Ramoutar,   If you like the sound of this recipe, then you will also like Crispy Okra Fries. Okay, I am going to sign off and get into holiday mode, see you when I get back.