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Home » Appetisers & Starters » Karaage Okra Recipe

September 20, 2022 By Yumiko 2 Comments

Karaage Okra Recipe

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Karaage Okra is a great dish to go with drinks. It is quick to make, tasty, and you can’t stop eating it. It takes no more than 10 minutes to make. Adding a touch of garlic makes the dish perfect as nibbles.

Hero shot of Karaage Okra.

Instead of calling today’s recipe ‘fried okra’, I call it Karaage Okra because the crunchy texture of the coating is similar, even if the okra pieces are not deep-fried. It’s crunchy on the outside and the flavour is like Karaage Chicken with garlic added to it.

When okra is cooked, it becomes slimy, which appears to be unattractive to many people.

I am OK with the sliminess because I was brought up with a traditional Japanese super-food called ‘nattō’ (納豆) – fermented soy beans, which is slimy and smelly. Perhaps most Japanese people wouldn’t mind cooked okra.

But today’s dish is not slimy even if the okra is cooked through.

What’s in my Karaage Okra

Ingredients for Karaage Okra.

It requires only 2 tablespoons of oil to shallow fry Karaage Okra.

  • Okra
  • Soy sauce
  • Grated garlic
  • Salt & pepper
  • Corn flour/cornstarch
  • Oil

I used 8 okra pods in my recipe, which is just right as nibbles for 2 people. My okra was about 10cm/4” long and weighed 110g/3.9oz in total.

I used a half teaspoon of garlic which adds a subtle garlic flavour to the dish. You can adjust the quantity of garlic to your liking.

How to Make Karaage Okra (see the video)

Before cutting the okra, you need to trim the stem of the okra and remove the black line around the top of the pod where the stem and the pod meet. See the pile of the trimmed okra below.

showing several trimmed okra.

  1. Prepare the okra and cut them into 2.5cm/1” long pieces.
  2. Add the flavour to the okra pieces, then coat them in corn flour.
  3. Shallow fry the okra pieces.

Step-by-step photo of making Karaage Okra.

I used a zip lock bag to season the okra pieces and coat them in corn flour. You can use a bowl instead, but I find that using a zip lock bag lets you coat the okra pieces more easily without making your hands dirty.

Considering the small amount of oil that is used to fry the okra, it’s almost like sautéing. You will need to roll the okra pieces in the pan regularly so that they get nicely browned patches evenly around them.

Zoomed-in photo of Karaage Okra.

It is best to serve Karaage Okra while hot and crunchy. When you bite into it, you might feel the soft flesh inside but it’s not slimy like the boiled okra. Karaage Okra is so tasty that you may not be able to stop nibbling it.

I also tried yuzu powder instead of garlic. Karaage Okra with yuzu flavour has a refreshing taste. You can buy a small bottle of yuzu powder at Japanese/some Asian grocery stores. Shichimi tōgarashi is also a good alternative to garlic, adding a touch of spiciness to the dish.

A bottle of nuzu powder and Shichimi Tōgarashi.

Left: Yuzu powder. Right: Shichimi Tōgarashi.

YumikoYM_Signature

Watch How To Make It

5 from 1 vote
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Karaage Okra
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
5 mins
Total Time
10 mins
 

Karaage Okra is a great dish to go with drinks. It is quick to make, tasty, and you can’t stop eating it. It takes no more than 10 minutes to make. Adding a touch of garlic makes the dish perfect as nibbles. Watch the video.

Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.

Recipe Type: Appetiser, Side
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: fried okra, karaage recipe, okra recipe
Serves: 2
Author: Yumiko
Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)
  • 8 okra pods (note 1)
  • 2 tbsp corn flour/cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp oil
Flavouring
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 2 pinches of salt
  • 2 pinches of pepper
  • ½ tsp grated garlic (note 2)
Instructions
  1. Trim the tip of the stem end. Run your knife around the stem end, where the stem and the pod meet, to remove the black line around the top of the pod. See the zoomed-in photo of trimmed okra in the post.

  2. Cut each okra pod into about 2.5cm/1” long pieces (note 3).

  3. Put the okra pieces and the Flavouring ingredients in a zip lock bag, seal the zip, then massage the bag gently, ensuring that all the okra pieces are evenly coated in Flavouring ingredients.

  4. Add corn flour to the bag and seal the bag. Shake and massage the bag ensuring that the cornflour covers the surface of the okra pieces completely.

  5. Add oil to a small to medium size frying pan (note 4) over medium heat.

  6. Put the okra pieces in and cook for about 5 minutes, occasionally stirring and flipping the okra pieces.

  7. When you see the brown patches around the okra pieces, they are ready.

  8. Serve immediately (note 5).

Recipe Notes

1. My okra was about 10cm/4” long and weighed 110g/3.9oz in total.

2. You can adjust the quantity of garlic to your liking. A half teaspoon gives you a subtle flavour of garlic.

Instead of garlic, you can add shichimi tōgarashi (spice mixture with chilli) or yuzu power (see the photo in the post) for a different flavouring.

3. Depending on the length of your okra, you may cut it into slightly shorter or longer pieces so that the okra pieces from each pod are similar sizes.

4. If your frying pan is too large the oil spreads too thin, making it difficult to shallow fry okra pieces. The best size frying pan is one that will just fit in a single layer of okra pieces. A slightly smaller frying pan that results in several okra pieces on top of other okra pieces can work too, as long as you stir regularly so that they cook evenly.

5. If you leave Karaage Okra too long before serving, the coating loses its crunchiness. However, they still taste great.

6. Nutrition per serving. It assumes that all of the oil is absorbed into the okra.

serving: 81g calories: 175kcal fat: 14g (22%) saturated fat: 0.9g (5%) trans fat: 0.1g polyunsaturated fat: 2.4g monounsaturated fat: 10g cholesterol: 0mg (0%) sodium: 216mg (9%) potassium: 180mg (5%) carbohydrates: 12g (4%) dietary fibre: 1.9g (8%) sugar: 0.8g protein: 1.3g vitamin a: 7.9% vitamin c: 21% calcium: 3.7% iron: 2.4%

 

Meal Ideas

A typical Japanese meal consists of a main dish, a couple of side dishes, a soup and rice. I try to come up with a combination of dishes with a variety of flavours, colours, textures and make-ahead dishes.

Even if you serve Karaage Okra as a side dish, you can’t change the fact that the dish does look like nibbles. So, I decided to come up with a collection of dishes that are served at izakaya (Japanese tavern) and are also suited for a meal.

Firstly, I needed a dish that contains protein. I picked Sauteed Chicken with Salty Shallot Sauce because the quantity to serve is easily adjusted.

Some people order Ochazuke to finish the meal at izakaya. Ochazuke serves as a Rice dish as well as Soup, so I picked an extra side dish in place of soup. The other dishes are selected to add different flavours to the meal.

  • Main: Sautéed Chicken with Salty Shallot (Scallion) Sauce – you can adjust the quantity per serving.
  • Side dish 1: Karaage Okra Recipe – today’s recipe.
  • Side dish 2: Ramen Egg (Ajitsuke Tamago) – make ahead.
  • Salad: Pickled Cucumbers and Shiitake Mushrooms – other pickled dish or salad is good too.
  • Rice: Ochazuke Recipes (Rice with Green Tea) – I picked Nori Chazuke, but any of the three popular Ochazuke toppings will be fine.

Meal idea with Karaage Okra.

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Filed Under: All Recipes, Appetisers & Starters, Collection - Quick Meal, Sides, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. SJam says

    September 27, 2022 at 11:09 pm

    These were delicious with this morning’s breakfast! My harvest is small every few days and i don’t have enough at a time for a proper dish. These gave a lovely fresh vegetable flavour to our plate of tofu. I will make this one again!

    Reply
    • Yumiko says

      September 28, 2022 at 8:40 am

      Hi SJam, aren’t they great? Yours must be super delicious as they are so fresh! Tofu is a good choice to go with them.

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Yumiko!

I was born and raised in Japan and migrated to Australia with my family in 1981. I got tired of my kids constantly asking me for their favourite Japanese recipes, so I decided to collate them in one place so they can help themselves - and now you can too! Read More…

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