Delicious Side-Dish with Okra, Rice-Shaped Noodles, Garlic, Tomatoes and Aleppo Pepper

Okra is such a versatile and not always easy to match vegetable, especially for people like me, who didn't grow up with. As many other food-related products, I've discovered okra relatively late, but through trials and errors, I've discovered my own dish combinations. 

But I haven't try anything new for a long time, maybe for too long. It is not always easy to find the fresh product - and I am not a supporter of frozen veggies anyway - and most of the shops selling it are located quite far away from me. Sometimes, I was simply not in the good mood for paying the full attention requested by preparing a recipe with an ingredient so unfamiliar to my usual eating habits. 

The wonder happened yesterday and I was not only happy to taste okra again, but also to scribble fast the main directions of a new recipe. 

You can use this as a side dish - a good company to a meaty meal - or if you want more consistency, to add some shredded yellow cheese to make it into an autonomous meal. It suits very well white fish.

It is easy to prepare - you only need 45 minutes - and delicious for the palate, as well as healthy.

Ingredients

200 gr. fresh okra, finelly cut in rondels

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic, finelly cut

5 middle-sized tomatoes, finelly sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Aleppo Pepper

100 gr. rice-shaped noodles. it goes very well with rice

2 tablespoon cooking oil

Directions for preparing the okra mix

Warm the oil in a pan at medium heat. When it start sizzling, add the okra and keep mixing in order to have them fried on both sides. After 5 minutes add the garlic and keep mixing. Sprinkle the salt and add the tomatoes. Mix well for another 5 minutes. When ready, add the Aleppo Pepper, mix well and put it on the side.

For the rice-shaped noodles

In a pot, add the oil and warm it for a couple of minutes. Add the rice noodle and mix it well with the oil. Pour water, at a ration of 2 cups of water for a cup of rice noodles. Mix it well and leave it boil for around 15 minutes.

When the noodles are ready, add the okra mixture and mix it well while heated at medium size temperature for another couple of minutes.

Now, it is ready to be served, either as an independent dish or as a side dish to meat or fish.

Serves: 3

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Bon Appétit!

Sautée mushrooms with onions and tomatoes

I always like my food tasty, easy to prepare and healthy. The more I am experimenting with cooking, becoming familiar with various tastes, the more I am tempted to create my own recipes and diversify my palate.

The following recipe is the result of such an improvisation, using the available resources at home, while trying to prepare a healthy meal for me and the baby.

Ingredients:

1 onion, finelly chopped

2 tablespoon raps oil

2 big tomatoes, finelly chopped

7 brown mushrooms, medium size, finelly chopped

1 teaspoon OSEM seasoning

100 gr. butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Mix the ingredients in the pan, one by one, at 250C. Stirr well, allowing all the ingredients to melt together well. If you want the onion caramelized, you can add them first, together with the oil and the sugar and mix with the rest 5 minutes later.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2

The result is irresistibly delicious and light.

If you are strong enough to give up the temptation of eating it on its own, spoon by spoon. you can combine it in different equally healthy ways.

I personally made a dish with cauliflower. It goes very well with fish, meat - if you are eating kosher, eliminate the butter or replace it with a non-dairy variant - a base mix for pasta or rice. I can dream about throwing some eggs there too, shakshuka style. It is always a good match for boiled potatoes - French fries can be too oily. Because right now it is the open season, some boiled asaparagus can keep the mushrooms an interesting tasty company.

As it is open season right now, it can be a good company for some boiled asparagus too.

If you want your plate even healthier, add some spinach too. 

Bon Appétit!