Grilled Okra

I love okra and will eat it both crispy and slimy, without distinction. I only liked crispy okra as a kid though and these grilled okra pods come close to the char my mom used to get on them from stir frying in a wok.

The original recipe had me brine the okra. I was intrigued by the idea of flavoring the okra from inside out but unfortunately it didn't work. I poked a ton of holes into each okra pod (such a tedious task....not to mention dangerous!) and yet the okra didn't taste anything like the brine nor did it take on the salt. I had to add salt off the grill to season it properly. But the advantage of grilling okra like this is that you don't really need a lot of flavors to make it stand out. Just add salt and you're good to go. The yogurt sauce is a pretty good accompaniment and since I grilled some Chile Yogurt Chicken from my blog to serve alongside it, the yogurt went really well as a sauce for that as well.

Recipe adapted from Food & Wine
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:
8 cups lukewarm water
1 bunch dill
9 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup kosher salt
2 lbs okra, poked in a few places with a paring knife
2 tbsp oil
1.5 cups greek yogurt
1/2 tsp sea salt

Procedure:
If you want to make the brine (I don't think it's needed), in a large bowl mix water along with 1/2 bunch coarsely chopped dill, 8 of the garlic cloves crushed and kosher salt. Mix till the salt is dissolved. Add okra and let marinate for 2 hours at room temp. Drain the okra and pat dry really well with paper towels. Skewer the okra onto two skewers (refer pictures), and you'll use 12 skewers altogether to get six spears. Brush both sides well with oil and preheat the grill to medium high heat. In the meantime, blend greek yogurt, the rest of the dill and 1 garlic clove with 1/2 tsp sea salt and blend to form a smooth paste. Set aside in the fridge until needed. Grill the okra 5 minutes on each side till each side gets good charring. Sprinkle salt over hot okra on both sides (the brine didn't flavor the okra at all). Enjoy hot with the dill-yogurt.