In which Taylor tries to make a southern favorite G-free

I took advantage of the extended holiday weekend by cooking something I've been meaning to try since I found gluten-free bread crumbs (Corn Flake crumbs) in an Atlanta grocery store: fried okra.

I know, I know, frying things isn't exactly the healthiest option but okra is a vegetable, and an underrated one at that. Not only is it tasty fried or otherwise, everynutrient.com says it's "a good source of many nutrients including vitamin B6, vitamin C, fiber, calcium, and folic acid."

I found fresh okra at Ward's supermarket and immediately thought of the southern favorite I used to order every chance I got before I went gluten-free. I'd never made it before, but okra+breading? How hard could it be?

Turns out, not really hard at all. All I did was cut the okra in bite-sized pieces,




Then I made a little bowl of milk and a little bowl of bread crumbs and started an assembly line: okra in milk, okra in crumbs (mixed with a dash of salt and pepper), okra in hot pan of vegetable oil ...





If I were to do it all over again (and I will), I would probably boil the okra in water for just a little bit so that they softened up faster. If I left them to cook too long the outside burned. Obviously. And I'd probably use whole milk or buttermilk instead of 1 percent, but, you know, this is a health blog.

All in all, it ended up a pretty good GF substitute for anyone who loves fried okra as much as I do, which is, I'm learning, not as many Floridians as I would have expected.

Oh well, more for me!