Japanese-Style Okra

Okra is definitely one of those veggies people either love or hate.  With an exception of my mother who doesn't like it for its seeds, many people can't tolerate its sliminess.  Growing up in Japan, I ate plenty of slimy food throughout my childhood.  Okra is now grown in Japan as well, however, my first encounter with okra was when I ordered a bowl of gumbo in the US.  I even liked pickled okras which most of my friends disliked.

Fresh okra started to show up at local farmers market in mid August.  I like to pick smaller okra and fill a sandwich bag (that's the perfect amount of okra I can consume by myself in a week).  I cook them in Japanese-style with soy sauce and Nihonshu (you call it 'sake') and eat it with other veggie side dishes using chopsticks.  Larger okra takes longer to cook and they are harder to pick up with chopsticks.  Chopping larger okra into pieces makes the whole dish too slimy even for me.

Japanese-Style Whole Okra (Vegan)

Click "Read more" for the recipe.

Ingredients (enough to serve 3-4 as a small side dish)

Fresh okra(enough to fill a sandwich bag)
Hot chili pepper*
About 4 tablespoons nihonshu (sake)
About 1 tablespoon mirin**
About 2 teaspoons soy sauce

1.  Cut off the top portion of each okra at the line.  Be careful not to expose any seed.

2.  Place okra in a small saute pan or saucier.  Add nihonshu and mirin to cover okras about 1/3 the way.  I make mine with mostly nihonshu with a splash of mirin.  If you like it sweeter, use a little bit more mirin and slightly less nihonshu.  Do not add too much mirin---it's pretty sweet!
3. Chop hot peppers and add to okras.
4. Cover okra with a lid smaller than the diameter of a pan.  It's called 'otoshi buta' in Japanese cooking term.  It allows the veggies to cook evenly without large amount of cooking liquid.
5. Simmer over medium heat.  Do not overcook okra unless you like mussy overcooked okra.  They are done when they turn bright green (just like when broccoli is cooked but not too soft).  Uncover and stir if the top portion is not getting cooked evenly.
6. Turn off the heat.  Add 2 teaspoons soy sauce and stir well.  Taste an okra or the sauce and add more soy sauce if you prefer.

*I used yellow hot pepper when I made the batch in the picture because that's all I had.  Red chili pepper is actually my favorite in this recipe since it gives better color contrast against green okra.

**Mirin can be found at a large supermarket with good Asian food product selection or at Asian markets.

I rarely measure ingredients when I cook.   That's why I can't give exact measurements.  Besides, everyone has different tastes, so the recipes should be modified to suit one's taste buds.