Spiced Roasted Okra

When I was a kid, we went to a lot of Christian summer camps. My parents got to share about our overseas mission work, the campers got to learn more about foreign missions, and my brothers and I got to go to camp! It was at one of these summer camps that I first tasted okra. Pickled okra, to be exact. I can't remember where that camp was, how old I was, or even the face or name of the friend-for-a-week who loved pickled okra so much that she got some every day from the cafeteria salad bar and encouraged me to try it as well. What I do remember, though, is that I hated it.

Over the years, I had okra in soup a couple times, and it tasted better than that pickled okra but had a weird sliminess. As a college student I was introduced to the wonderful thing that is fried okra. And a couple years ago, when my neighbor started sharing fresh okra from her garden every summer, I started looking for other ways to prepare it that highlighted its freshness and didn't involve breading and a deep fat fryer.

Enter roasted okra. Roasting okra deepens the flavor, cuts down on the sliminess, allows you to add whatever spices you like, and is simple and pretty healthy.

Spiced Roasted Okra

Ingredients
Fresh okra
Olive oil
Spices of choice (I used ground coriander, smoked paprika, cumin, salt, and black pepper)

Directions
Preheat oven to 450. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper or foil.

Rinse the okra and pat dry with a towel. Trim off the stem ends and the very ends of the tips (otherwise they'll burn). Halve the okra length-wise.

In a bowl, toss the okra with olive oil. Then sprinkle with spices. Don't bother measuring; just sprinkle to your heart's content. Toss well, and add more olive oil if it looks dry, and more spices if it looks like they're not coating the okra well enough. Spread okra on your baking sheet(s), being sure to leave some breathing room around each piece of okra. (If they're too close together, they'll steam rather than roast.)

Bake for 15-25 minutes, stirring 2-3 times during the cooking time. Watch them during the last 10 minutes or so--you want to pull them out when they're starting to get toasty but haven't turned the corner into burnt territory. Allow to cool slightly before eating. These are best eaten with your fingers. :)

Notes

• You can also leave the okra whole or cut it into smaller pieces, but you'd need to adjust cooking time accordingly. I like them halved, because it lets the spices cover the okra more thoroughly and is a convenient size to eat with your fingers.
• If you have a grill, okra taste great grilled. Leave them whole and trim off just the tips (not the stem ends). Put two skewers through them (so you can flip them more easily) and grill for a few minutes, depending on how hot your grill is. Then pick up by the stem to eat them, but don't eat the stem.