Okra Chaat Recipe

Excerpted from ‘I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes From a Southern Chef’

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Published September 02, 2022

Angie Mosier

Serves 6 to 8

This might be Snackbar’s best-known dish — thin strips of flash-fried okra tossed in chaat masala. In mid- to late July, when my backyard okra begins producing pods, I know that Snackbar’s farmer-suppliers will be knocking at the back door with okra soon. That’s when we add this chaat — the catch-all term for savory snacks in India — to the Snackbar menu.

The idea for this dish came from chef Suvir Saran. Cooking a pop-up dinner at Snackbar in the fall of 2009, he served his version of fried okra, which had become a hit at his Michelin-starred restaurant Dévi in New York City. The recipe involved cutting the okra very thin lengthwise and frying it until crispy without using any breading. I had never seen this technique before that night. In fact, I was afraid that the okra wouldn’t hold its texture through service. I was wrong. The dish turned out to be one of the finest okra preparations I had ever tasted.

The following year, as soon as okra came in season, I decided to develop a new dish based on the technique I had learned from Chef Saran. The result was this okra chaat. It was a hit with the guests, including one local writer who mentioned it in a magazine. Word spread, and okra chaat has been a part of summer at Snackbar for a decade now. I think its appeal lies in its twist on a traditional Southern favorite, fried okra. Most of our diners are familiar with cornmeal-breaded fried okra. In this batterless preparation, the flavors take center stage. What was once a local novelty is now a local favorite. I hope one day you’ll join us in Oxford and order it. Until then, here is the recipe. Serve it as an appetizer or cocktail snack.

Ingredients

3 cups neutral oil, such as peanut or canola
2 pounds okra pods, wiped clean and tough tops trimmed
1½ tablespoons chaat masala (store-bought or homemade, page 8), divided
Salt
2 jalapeño chiles, stemmed and minced
½ cup diced red onion
½ cup seeded and diced tomatoes
⅓ cup chopped dry-roasted peanuts
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons cane syrup or sorghum syrup
Juice of 2 limes

Directions

Pour the oil into a Dutch oven or other large, heavy-bottomed pot and heat to 350°F over medium-high heat.

Slice the okra lengthwise into very thin strips (⅛ to ¼ inch). When the oil is hot, carefully add one-quarter to one-third of the okra to the hot oil. Fry the okra until it is dark and very crisp, about 1 minute. (You’ll notice that the water bubbles begin to subside when the okra is done.) Use a slotted spoon to transfer the okra to a paper-towel–-ined plate. Immediately season it lightly with a couple of pinches of the chaat masala and a pinch of salt. Repeat with the remaining okra. Once all of the okra is fried and cool enough to handle, gently toss it in a medium bowl with the jalapeños, red onion, tomatoes, peanuts, cilantro, cayenne, cane syrup, lime juice and remaining chaat masala. Serve immediately.

Excerpted from I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes From a Southern Chef by Vishwesh Bhatt. Copyright © 2022 by Vishwesh Bhatt. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Co., Inc. All rights reserved.