Saturday’s Basket – Almond Meal Crusted Okra with Sriracha Sauce

There it sat. The last of this summer’s okra, tucked in a small wooden crate, on the table for a market patron to pick it up and take it home. So, I did. And I did what what has been done to okra in Southern kitchens for generations – I fried it up!  Maybe not in the traditional flour sort of way but I did fry it up nonetheless. I put my final spin on it by serving it with a special Sriracha sauce that reminds me of one of my favorite tater tot spots (any guesses?!).  This one is super easy, gluten free and makes one kicky appetizer!

Almond Meal Crusted Okra

Ingredients

1 pint fresh okra, sliced in rings

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup finely ground almond meal

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

canola oil for frying (layer bottom of heavy bottomed skillet and set heat to medium-hi)

Preparation

Mix together the almond meal, salt and pepper. Toss the rings in the lightly beaten egg and then transfer to the almond meal mixture and turn to coat.

Place the rings in a single layer in the skillet and fry until golden brown (flipping if necessary).

Sriracha Sauce

Ingredients

2 tbsp light mayonnaise

1 tsp (or as much as you can stand, I use closer to 2!) Sriracha

Preparation

Combine ingredients in a small bowl and serve chilled. Also great served with potatoes, on sandwiches, burgers, chicken, etc.

Saturday’s Basket is written by a Forest Hill resident and is a weekly review of South of the James Market purchases and the recipes she creates with her market finds. View these and more recipes at Pantry2Plate, a food blog with stories of cooking as best as she knows how.