I’VE always been a big believer that ancient fruits and vegetables found in ancient religious and biblical texts have a special role to play in our diet. Not only did our early ancestors enjoy them, but most of them have special medicinal value that has helped protect against disease for thousands of years.
Take okra, also known as bhindi, lady fingers and gumbo.
Okra is a nutritional powerhouse used throughout history for both medicinal and culinary purposes. Once loved by the Egyptians and still used in many dishes today (such as the famous Southern American gumbo dish), this pod-producing, tropical vegetable dates back over 3500 years ago. But still today, many are enjoying both okra health benefits and the vegetable’s edible delight.
Like the kiwi fruit (okra actually shares many kiwi fruit benefits), okra is known for its high vitamin C, vitamin K, and folate content. Okra is also known for harnessing a superior fibre, which helps with digestion, helps to stabilise blood sugar and control the rate at which sugar is absorbed.
A member of the cotton family, okra plants are easy to grow, appearing as pods inside beautiful pale yellow flowers with crimson centres. In fact, they are very decorative as plants. The young pods are sought after for Greek and Middle Eastern cuisines, while South East Asians prefer them larger and longer.
In a lot of ways, okra is a diabetes-fighting vegetable that should be included in the daily diet of all Pacific Islanders, if not to help ward off disease but to enjoy this easily grown, wild vegetable from the past. If only it wasn’t so slimy to eat!
People either love or absolutely hate okra, but I’m hoping that after you read today’s story, you might go out and rediscover a new love for this ancient vegetable.
History of okra
Spreading across to Western Africa and down into the central part of the continent during the migrations around 2000 BCE, okra has been a staple in African and African cuisine for a long time. It even crossed the ocean to Asia at an early date and spread with Islam to India. About the same time okra was making its appearance in Brazil, the West Indies and later mainland North America, it made its way to China and the island of Macau where it bears one of its many African names — quilobo — from Angola.
Quilobo is one variant of the African word quingombo, which gave us the gumbo name. In southeastern Nigeria it was known as okwuru, which eventually have us the English name of ochra and okra.
Along the entire length of the 3500 mile coast exploited by the trans-Atlantic African slave trade, okra was grown and cooked with other vegetables or rice and made into soup called gumbo.
The introduction of slaves to the Southern states of the US introduced okra and today gumbo is as much a part of Southern American cuisine as fried chicken and collard greens.
Okra lovers passionately love okra in all manners of all shapes and forms. Boiled, fried, steamed, grilled, broiled, pickled, whole, sliced and julienned. I love it raw in a salad.
You name it, okra lovers love okra. Those who hate it think it’s slimy, gooey and gummy. Some even go as far to call it mucus saliva!
The sliminess is a great natural thickener for soups and curries, but there are special ways of preparing okra so it can be enjoyed in more diverse ways beyond curry.
Tips on preparing okra
In general, look for young, small pods no longer than 4 inches, otherwise it becomes woody and chewy. There is a reason okra is called ladyfingers in some countries. Look out for the pods smaller than a lady’s finger! At the market, buy okra that is firm, unblemished and brightly coloured. Make sure to avoid limp, bruised, blemished and moldy pods. In Fijian Indian cuisine, people love to chop the okra up into small pieces To get you started, here are my top five tips to get you past the slime, and hopefully more encouraged to eat more of this medicinal vegetable.
Top five slime busting tips
Choose small pods.
Wash and dry okra very, very thoroughly.
Don’t cut okra into small pieces.
Add an acid like tomato, lemon juice, vinegar or wine when cooking.
Overcooking produces more slime! Don’t overcook okra.
Eat more
like our ancestors
It was interesting to note the PM’s recent statement that there should be no excuse for Fijians to have such high rates of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases in this country, because of the abundance of wild, nutritional foods. I totally agree.
It seems many Pacific Islanders have chosen to stray away from their ancestral diet because of laziness, lack of time or the convenience of eating and drinking foods made by machine rather than mother nature. I think it’s ridiculous that some villagers sell their delicious root crops and vegetables at the markets, only to turn around and buy sugary drinks, instant noodles and salty snacks to feed the family.
It is the rediscovery of the ancient foods like okra that may hold the key to reducing NCDs across the region; if only more people would be more willing to grow them and include it more into the daily diet.
For me, the answer to dramatically reducing the incidence of NCDs starts at home. It’s time to break the cycle by learning new ways to cook the local produce, and re-educating the family cook about healthy cooking practices. Only then will our children grow up understanding what it means to eat healthy like our ancestors, and not like robots eating from the factory. It’s time to fall in love with bhindi!
