Cajun Okra and Rice Salad with Shrimp

A quick salad. Some quick tips on choosing okra at the market – and cooking okra. Even a few photos of how okra grows.

Okra is a staple in what has become “trendy” — good ol’ Southern cooking. But let’s be blunt: Can you get past the slimy texture?

If the answer is yes, then you will have one of the very best vegan thickeners around. The thick, viscous liquid (slime!) that’s produced when the carbohydrates and proteins in okra pods are cooked is known as mucilage.

To learn more tips and tricks on cooking with okra, plus to get the scoop on okra nutrition, check out my article on Food Network’s HealthyEats. And don’t miss my recipe for Cajun Okra and Rice Salad with Shrimp.

Here’s a few bonus photos of the okra my daughter planted in our garden. Okra is super easy to grow. But once the it starts to produce the edible pods, okra plants needs to be checked daily; because those pods can grow from perfectly sized – at about 4-inches – to way too long and tough in only one day!

Have you ever cooked okra? Can you get past the ‘slime?’ (: