Roast okra with tomatoes (Bamieh)
We have been cooking at home a lot lately and have been really working on finding super easy, healthy vegetarian dishes we could prepare in little or no time with very little effort - yes, we love to cook but don’t have the time to spend 3 hours a day in the kitchen unfortunately. Some weeks ago we received a beautiful gift - a recipe book filled with Palestinian recipes written by Yasmin Khan and we have been cooking so many dishes from this lovely book and have been inspiring ourselves so much.
Today we wanted to share our version of “Roast Okra with tomatoes”, also called Bamieh. Bamieh is a common dish around the Middle East and Asia and you will find many different kinds of Bamieh recipes also including meat. Our version is vegan and it is absolutely delicious - it’s great how you can get a completely exotic taste by adding a few different ingredients together. This dish asks for cumin seeds, coriander seeds and chili flakes which not everyone uses every day but that really elevate this simple recipe.
We ate Bamieh along with some Hummus and Baba ganoush but you can have it either as a main dish, a side dish with fish/meat/tofu or you can make many small dishes and share them. We will definitely be sharing more of these dishes with you in the coming days and we hope you enjoy them.
Please refer to our Q&A at the bottom for any additional questions :)
Prep Time: 10 Min
Cooking Time: 25 Min
Ingredients (4 servings):
Okra - 400g
Onion - 1 Medium/ Large
Coriander Seeds - 1/2 teaspoons
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoons
Garlic - 2 cloves
Chilly Flakes - 1/2 teaspoons
Canned Tomatoes (or you can make tomato sauce) - 400g
Cane Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Lemon - 1 (for juice)
Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper
How to:
Start by preheating the oven to 180° fan.
Start by cleaning the okra and cutting off the stalks (small hairlike pieces that hang from the okra). You do not want to break the okra and also do not cut off the top part. It needs to stay intact.
Put the cleaned okra on a baking tray and wet with some olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes or until you see that the okra has gotten tender but not mushy - no longer than 20 minutes.
While the okra is roasting you can work on the tomato sauce. If you wish you can make your own tomato sauce, it is pretty easy and doesn’t take longer than 30 min (just clean the tomatoes, cut them and put them in a pan adding some water until a sauce has formed) - with this method you will have the skin and seeds which are delicious but you might want to buy canned tomatoes to have this step taken care of for you.
Place some olive oil in a frying pan and add the cut onion. Fry it gently for around 10 minutes with low/medium heat.
Add the coriander and cumin seeds to the onion as well as the garlic and chili flakes. Let cook for around 3/4 minutes.
Now is the time to add the tomato sauce (canned tomatoes), sugar, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cover and let it cook for around 10 minutes. When the okra is done remove it from the oven and and add it to the tomato sauce. You can add a bit of hot water if the sauce looks dry.
Add some olive oil before serving and enjoy :)
Q&A
1) What is okra?
Okra is a delicious vegetable and it is a good source of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber. It has a strange texture a little bit like a peach and many seeds on the inside. From what we know, Okra probably originated somewhere around Ethiopia, and was cultivated by the ancient Egyptians by the 12th century B.C.
2) What is Bamieh?
Bamieh is the name of this dish which is present in many Middle Eastern and Asian countries. You will find Bamieh in Turkey, Iran, Syria, Lebanon and all surrounding countries. Bamieh can be made in a variety of ways including with meat.
3) Where can I buy okra?
We bought our okra from Migros. Sometimes you won’t find it there but you will always find it in Globus or Jelmoli.
4) Is this dish vegan?
Yes our Bamieh is vegan!
5) Do I need to add all that garlic?
You don’t need to use garlic if you don’t like it but we really think it elevates the taste of the dish