Food: Okra Chips

When I saw this box of okra at The Fresh Market, I admit I thought it was just dried-out pathetic Yankee okra, saying to myself, "This is my choice if I want fresh OKRA?!" But, I was in the bulk section and should have realized this was something altogether different: okra chips.

I've written about okra before and the variety of ways it can be prepared. It's thought of as a Southern food and either you like it or you don't. I guess that isn't quite true: some people will eat okra that is fried, but no other way. I will eat it anyway you prepare it:
  • Stewed with tomatoes? Check.
  • Cooked in a gumbo? Check. (As long as its veggie!)
  • Fried in cornmeal? Check.
  • Little okra patties? Check.
  • Pickled? Check.
  • Homemade double-hot pickled? Double check.
  • Boiled and topped with butter and coarse salt? Check.
You name it and I will eat it. Story is, when I was a babe my dad would pick okra from the garden and leave the stems long so I could grasp them in my very fat hands and cram the boiled okra into my fat little face. Supposedly, I ate twenty-something (small) pieces of okra in one sitting. In other words, I was born to eat okra.

And these okra chips might possible be the best preparation of okra ever invented. The pods, a relative of the hibiscus which is why their green grassy flavor is accented by a slightly floral note (something only an okra connoisseur would say), are flash fried resulting in a crispy, crunchy non-greasy piece of deliciousness. Okra chips have all of the amazing flavor of fried okra, but none of the slime that is the primary objection most people give about the vegetable. Light, green and delicious. I wish they had a little bit of heat, but since the chips are just okra it would be difficult to do. No matter, I'll serve them with a little bit of sriracha sauce for dipping.

If you don't have the Fresh Market in your neighborhood, not to worry: you can order the okra chips from them online.

Mangez!

Restaurant: Saigon (Indianapolis)

There is very good Chinese food in Terre Haute, plus Thai and Indian food that are both pretty good. But no Vietnamese. In Austin, my house was right at the epicenter of where the Indian, Vietnamese and Mexican communities collided, which meant several things:
  • Great Vietnamese food
  • Great Indian food
  • Great Mexican food
  • Speciality grocery stores selling the ingredients to make all of the above (MT Supermarket, a Vietnamese grocery that expanded a couple of years ago is listed in the current issue of Saveur as one of the top privately owned stores in the country.)
So I miss my Vietnamese food. I miss being able to call up Sunflower and order some lemongrass tofu to go or a big bowl of noodle soup when I was feeling ill. I miss the brusk familiarity of the owner and her staff: "We know you because you come in here all of the time, but we don't really want to acknowledge that or talk to you more because of that." And the spring rolls! Rolled to order.

And when you called, she never gave you a total, told you when the order would be ready or even said goodbye. She just hung up! I miss her. So on last week's trip to Indy, I decided to try Saigon, the Vietnamese place I had read about on-line. Located in a dilapidated strip mall, it's a whole-in-the-wall place with interesting paint, strange decor and a huge TV on the wall. Above each booth, there were cutouts from the beer boxes advertising the different brews available. Oddly, they were in a different order and arrangement at each table.

I ordered:
  • Spring rolls: good, but without the intense fresh flavor of the ones at Sunflower in Austin.
  • Lemongrass tofu: Sunflower in Austin? What is that? This is damn good lemongrass tofu. Perhaps the best I have ever had.
  • Cafe sua: delicious, cold and refreshing.
And the service? I felt like a regular after the first visit, they were friendly and attentive. There is even a small market next door. While it isn't around the corner, and I can't call for a to-go order whenever I want, it's comforting to know that some delicious Vietnamese food is just down the road.

Saigon Market and Restaurant
3103 Lafayette Rd
Indianapolis, IN 46222
Phone: (317) 927-7270

TJ


While in Indy, I also stopped by my beloved Trader Joe's--the place that almost makes up for the loss of Central Market. Almost.

I know I've mentioned it before, but Trader Joe's is a chain of small grocery stores that sells speciality items, many of their own production. You never quite know what you'll find, because they are always retiring past favorites while introducing new ones. You vote with your pocketbook. This is frustrating to some, but I try and approach it as an opportunity to be open to the gifts on the universe. In this case: delicious, edible gifts.

Jessie takes the other path and has spent days cursing the name of Trader Joe's to the heavens, pouring ash and bramble on their grocery bags and enacting symbols of vengeance as she drives past their store. And its all my fault.

Those of you who helped me celebrate my birthday this year will remember the lovely and delicious champagne bar, where we had assorted liqueurs and mixers to make a variety of fizzy cocktails. One of those choices was preserved hibiscus flowers: anemone like blossoms that floated to the bottom of the glass, adding flavor and color, plus a little snack at the end of your drink. Jessie was going to do something similar for her graduate thesis exhibition opening and I suggested the hibiscus flowers, which she remembered they stocked at Trader Joe's. But not that day. Not for her party. There was cursing and weeping and wailing, much like the end of days. Luckily, I told Jessie she could find some at Whole Foods, which she did, so the day was saved. But not her patronage of Trader Joe's. And, the problem was exacerbated during my visit to Madison and our trip to the store, where what did she find? You guessed it: preserved hibiscus flowers. Reader, I swear she grabbed the bag of petite petals, threw them on the ground and began to stomp upon them, all the while uttering phrases not heard since the trials at Salem over three hundred years ago. She had to be forcibly restrained and escorted from the store by the manager and her husband, babbling to herself all the while. Thankfully, in Madison not a single person took any notice at all.

Today, as I passed the dried fruit section, I spotted a bag of hibiscus flowers and, thinking of Jessie, made a sign to ward off evil. I then happily bought dried Bartlett pears instead.

What else I got:
Their excellent chocolate
Organic brown sugar
King Arthur's flour
(I'm making brownies tomorrow.)
Tortellini
Precooked brown rice
Precooked beluga lentils
Pomegranate soda
Cider
Citrus body wash
Natural peppermint toothpaste with fluoride (half the price of Tom's.)

Mangez!

Udupi Cafe



I went to Indy on Saturday to see the exhibition Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting and run some errands in the city--including lunch! After driving around and around an old shopping center, I finally got out of my car and found Udupi Cafe down a scary hall, tucked behind several stores. Luckily, the smell emanating from the restaurant was enticing, because the dirty hall was very discouraging.

Udupi Cafe serves south Indian vegetarian cuisine and at lunch has a pretty full buffet. I enjoyed the rasam and a pumpkin dal. The biryani was wonderful, slightly sweet but with a surprising and serious kick. They also do made-to-order dosas as part of the lunch service, served warm and crispy and filled with delicious potato masala studded with little seeds for a crunchy burst of flavor. Everything I sampled was very good and I'll definitely be back on subsequent visits to Indy.