This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
The two main characters in Jessica Soffer’s new novel Tomorrow There Will be Apricots come together and bond over food. Cardamom pistachio cookies, baklava, kubba with squash and barnia – otherwise known as okra. At Novelicious, we love recreating the food we read about it. So, as an exclusive newsletter treat, Jessica decided to share the book’s barnia recipe from her New York kitchen.
By Jessica Soffer
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Okra tends to get a bum rap. Or it gets fried. Which is too bad. Okra is delicious and can be very not-slimy if you cook it as the characters do in Tomorrow There Will be Apricots, or as my aunt, the best cook I know, does.
Helpful hints: Buy the small, fresh okra. Don’t buy frozen. Let them soak in vinegar first. Then allow them come to room temperature. Dry them very well. Stir them as little as possible. Cut them as little as possible – or leave them whole. Salt only at the very last moment.
Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 chopped onion
3 teaspoons grated garlic
2 cups stewed tomatoes
¾ teaspoon of each: cardamom, curry powder, ground ginger
½ teaspoon of each: paprika, red pepper flakes, celery seeds
1½ pounds fresh okra, washed
Lemon juice, salt and black pepper (to taste)
Method
1. Heat oil in large stockpot.
2. Sauté onions until translucent.
3. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant.
4. Add tomatoes and spices and cook on medium heat for five minutes, stirring consistently.
5. Add okra and cook for twelve minutes or until okra is soft, stirring very infrequently.
Serve over long grain rice and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper, to taste. Perfection.
Tomorrow There Will be Apricots is out now.