The Life and Times of Chai

I hope everyone had a lovely V-day, Anti-V-day, long weekend, or weekend. I had the opportunity to watch Coraline in 3D, see a rare photo of Abe Lincoln, and eat some yummy vegan Mac N' Cheese at Soul Vegetarian. Plus I took the famous 70 bus home! All of that was balanced with an emergency trip to the animal hospital (Chandi is a fighter), attending a goodbye party for a daily family member (*co-worker*) who was laid off, and feeling drained by work and other projects.

But, I got to play out one of my passions. I carved out time to cook this weekend, which has been rare in the past two weeks due to my travel and work schedule. I am delighted to share with you an adapted recipe included in "How To Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman. I love okra and bought a bag of frozen cut okra at HMart last weekend. I found this salad to be delish and a source of comfort as I craved my mom's food.

Crisp Okra Salad

Oil for deep frying
1 pound frozen okra, stemmed and cut round
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 small or 1 medium tomato, cored, seeded and julienned
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 lemon or more as needed
1 1/2 teaspoons chaat masala, or more to taste
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida

1. Defrost frozen okra following instructions on bag.

2. Put at least 2 inches of oil in a countertop deep pan on the stove over medium-high heat. Bring to 350F.

3. Remove any liquid from defrosted okra. Add chili powder, 1/2 tea salt, and asafoetida and mix. Make sure all other ingredients are ready to go.

4. Fry the okra in batches small enough not to crowd your pan and be sure to let the oil return to 350F between batches. Fry it until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes- the seeds will swell, and it will be deeply colored at the edges- then transfer to paper towels to drain.

5. Toss the okra with the onion, tomato, and cilantro. Squeeze lemon juice over all, season to tatste with chaat masala and salt, and serve.