Salsa de Okra — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Tender okra sliced and simmered with tomatoes, onions, and palm oil into a silky, slightly mucilaginous sauce that clings beautifully to rice and fufu. A humble dish of pure comfort.

Ingredients

500g fresh okra, sliced into rounds
3 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp palm oil
1 tbsp ground crayfish (optional, omit for vegan)
1 scotch bonnet pepper, whole
1 seasoning cube
Salt to taste
1 cup water

Instructions

1 Wash the okra and trim the stems. Slice into rounds about half a centimeter thick.
2 Heat palm oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion until soft, about six minutes. Add the garlic and cook one minute more.
3 Add the diced tomatoes and cook for eight minutes until they break down into a sauce.
4 Add the sliced okra, scotch bonnet pepper, seasoning cube, and water. Stir well and bring to a simmer.
5 Cook on medium-low heat for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally, until the okra is tender and the sauce has thickened with the natural mucilage.
6 Remove the scotch bonnet pepper, adjust salt, and serve as a sauce over rice, fufu, or boiled cassava.

Did You Know?

Okra originated in Africa and has been cultivated on the continent for thousands of years, making it one of the few vegetables that traveled from Africa to the rest of the world.