Karaage Okra Recipe

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Left: Yuzu powder. Right: Shichimi Tōgarashi.

Yumiko

Watch How To Make It

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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%