Okra lunch

Brown rice on one side, delicious okra on the other. You know, don't you, that there is a pretty simple trick for preventing okra from getting slimy? The key is that no water (or anything with a high water content) should touch any cut surface of the okra until it has been seared, generally in hot oil and spices. This means that you must dry your okra VERY VERY thoroughly after you wash it. Very! Dry them as well as you can and then let them lie on a fresh dry towel or cooling rack to airdry some more.

Don't use a wet knife, either; even if your knife is just damp from cutting up another, wetter, ingredient, strings of mucilage will begin to multiply. Similarly, if you are pickling okra, do not prick it with a fork! It is also best to ensure that the wet ingredients in your recipe, which you add later, are acidic: use plenty of tomatoes, vinegar, lemon juice.

This new bento/lunch box, made by my favorite purveyors of plastic food storage containers, Lock&Lock, is just right for me. The Lock&Lock lids are easy to open and close and have an excellent seal, thanks to their gasket. I usually don't have it in me to make lunches that combine more than two or three elements, but often like to bring exactly two, so the divider configuration suits me very well, and the amount of food that fits inside is also just about right. I'd also be delighted to have some of these for three-item days, but they're hard to find. In the meantime, of course, I can always bring a second little container when I need one, or nestle two things on one side. In other news, ugh! The most recent photos I've taken have all been horrendously lit and therefore generally horrendous. Hélas.

Comments

[Robyn]

I love Lock&Lock. I'm contemplating buying one of the lunch boxes from Lunchsense, and I noticed that they sell a 34 oz container that divides into 3 for a relatively cheap price. Scroll down to find it here.

Lunch looks good - I don't think okra is supposed to be pretty.

[dbsmall]

Aha! I had no idea about the moisture thing, and was instead using a papaya powder (something I learned from an Indian co-worker years ago) after searing to "dry" the slime up. I guess it's some sort of dessicant, but much tastier than silica gel.

[redfox]

Robyn: Oh, thanks very much for the tip! It is especially useful for me as I'd decided that I definitely needed more of the 19 oz containers as well--so nice to have enough boxes to last the whole week, so I can load them up halfway with stuff I make on the weekend and add variety in the other half over the course of the week--but the place I'd bought the two I have is sold out! The carrier boxes do look pretty nifty, too. I can't imagine wanting to carry quite all the elements in the medium box, though, can you? I'll never want the drink container, for example. If only there were one sized to fit one 19 oz. divided box, one 6 oz. box, and the ice pack, I'd buy it in a second. I might buy the medium box anyhow, and resign myself to unused boxspace.

dbsmall: How intriguing! Is it amchoor powder, or is that something else?

[Robyn]

Glad to help! You hit on the exact reason for my hesitation in purchasing...while this seems like the best system I've seen, and I really do want something that's insulated because I don't have reliable access to a fridge, the boxes are too big (or too small!). Especially since I bike to campus. But regardless, they seem a good source for the Lock&Lock containers. (As is, surprisingly, the QVC website).

[ben wolfson]

But how was the okra prepared?

[dbsmall]

You know, you're right...it wasn't papaya powder. It was amchoor (green mango) powder.

But now I've got to try the "no moisture" approach.

[redfox]

The okra was prepared like this.

[foodies]

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