Ladies' Fingers...The Deep-Fried way

One of the best things about summer are the tastes that come with the season.

In that regard, okra is one of the favorites in my family.
For those of you that don't get to enjoy okra, you are missing out on a wonderful vegetable!

Okra is originally a West African food.  It can be prepared several different ways.  One favorite among people is to pickle it. I've never even tried it that way, so I can't speak for it. I can only attest to frying the okra.

The smaller the pod, the more tender the okra usually is. If you let the pod get too big, it is too tough to even cut. I have had okra that is deep fried whole, but we prefer it cut up, breaded and deep fried.

I make an egg and milk bath and coat my cut up okra.  Then I usually coat the okra in cornmeal.  BUT lately, I have been using something different. While cornmeal was good, I don't think it holds a candle to this idea: After the milk/egg bath, I coat the okra in Jiffy cornbread mix.  I have also used a brand I found at Wal-Mart called Texas Sweet Cornbread Mix.

Sorry for the blurry pic! The grease was hot and I was hurrying!!

The sweet flavor either of these cornbread mixes gives the okra is just unbelievable. 

I usually deep fry the okra, or pan fry it. You can see how delicious it looks. I like to add garlic salt and onion salt (to taste) as well.

Add okra to other summer-fresh deliciousness and you have a meal for a king. Or a queen!!

And where does the title of the blogpost come from? Well in West Africa, okra was frequently referred to as "ladies' fingers"!  Now you know!

I have linked this delicous secret to frying great okra to Gollum at Foodie Friday.