Recheado Okra

Whenever I cook okra this way I think of my daughter-in-law who loved this preparation, and I could not wait to serve it up to her whenever I made it.   
When my son got married in 2014, his wife asked if they could spend the first year with us so that we could get to know each other a little better.  Of course I was met with a lot of apprehension by other family and friends who thought this was a recipe for relationship problems, but it was a blessing in disguise. 
I must say it was such a pleasure to have them with us over that year, that both my husband and myself felt such a loss when they moved to their first home.

For a vegan preparation, omit the breading and just bake with a little spray of oil over the okra.


Note: During Lent one looks for something a little different to sooth the taste buds when meat is forbidden.

This was an experiment that turned out to put the "zing" right back into our vegetarian meal.

Ingredients

about 30 medium sized fresh okra

Breading ingredients ( omit for vegans)
1-3 eggs
Panko  breadcrumbs

Recheado

1 level teaspoon chilly powder ( reduce to taste)
2 heaped teaspoons paprika
1 level teaspoon cumin/jeera
1 heaped teaspoon garlic powder
1 heaped teaspoon ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 heaping teaspoons tomato paste
Red wine Vinegar

Method for Recheado

To make the recheado, put all the dry spices in a glass bowl. Stir to mix. Add enough vinegar to form a masala paste (not runny). To this add the tomato paste and mix well

Wash the okra. Using a paper towel wipe it down .  Cut the Okra just below the stem without cutting into the pod itself.

Slit the okra without going all the way through.  Stuff with recheado. Continue till all the okra is stuffed, and all the recheado is finished.

Preheat the oven to 425 F.
Cover a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil.  Spray lightly with cooking spray. Keep close by.
Put the one egg white in a soup bowl. Whisk till frothy not stiff.  In a another plate put the Panko crumbs. ( break more egg whites if needed, I had to use 3 for this quantity)
Lightly cover the okra with the egg froth, and then cover with the Panko. Keep whisking the egg white as froth is used up.  Place on the cookie sheet. Continue till all okra is covered.   Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes till browned and crispy. Watch so that it does not burn.
Nutritional information per 1 okra
calories 11.9/ total fat .1 g/ cholesterol 0.0 mg/ sodium 26.6 mg/ potassium 39.1 mg/ carbohydrates 2.3g/ protein .7g