I ate a lot of okra stews over rice during the period of my childhood that my family spent in Sudan. I wanted to pay tribute to that time by creating an okra stew that had none of the slimy, mushy texture that I remember from childhood. I cut the okra into chunks and cook just until tender. This stew is an ideal use for soft, overripe tomatoes, which meld easily into the okra. It is delicious served over rice or injera.
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 small red onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves chopped
- 1½ teaspoons Berbere
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3 tomatoes diced
- 1 pound okra trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper plus more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Roasted Korarima , ground cardamom, or more cumin
Injera or rice, for serving
Nutritional Facts
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent and the garlic is beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the berbere and cumin and stir to integrate. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until they break down into a saucy consistency, adding up to 1½ cups of water if they start to stick to the bottom of the pot, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Mix in the okra, salt, and pepper, reduce the heat to medium- low, cover the pot, and simmer, stirring occasionally and adding more water as needed to keep the tomatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pot, until the okra is tender and starting to split, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Stir in the korarima and simmer to blend the flavors, about 5 minutes.
- Serve with injera or rice.
From GURSHA: Timeless Recipes for Modern Kitchens, from Ethiopia, Israel, Harlem, and Beyond © 2025 by Tevletz Barhany-John. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Photo Credit: Clay Williams
Not enough tomatoes - I’ve been making this since I visited Israel years ago!
Here is the recipe of sour-sweet okra pod soup (typical of the Iraqi and Iraqi-Jewish cuisine). Choose smaller pods, large ones may be leathery. At present there are at London minimarkets such okra pods that remain tender even when large.
Pour inside an aluminium foil one glass of basmati rice, wash it three times.
Wash nearly ten okra pods. Slice them in a dish. Pour them into the foil. Wash and cut in two a large juicy lemon. Squeeze it entirely after having removed the seeds. Add two sugar teaspoons. Pour one can of chopped tomatoes. Add water. Cook in an ordinary oven at 180 degrees Celsius for forty minutes. It's delicious.
Your Bamis needs triple the amount of tomatoes- would never be served in Israel where I first tasted it - looks so dry - needs sauce to dunk the pita