- Have you ever tried fried okra?

How about cornbread?

Well, if you combine the two, you get a dish called okra corn cakes.

Today, I'm gonna show you just how it's done.

I'm Lauren Furey, and welcome to my Charleston kitchen.

You're watching "Now We're Cookin'."

Okra corn cakes are one of my favorite things to make.

They're crispy, they're delicious, and you can have them any way that you would like, toppings or not.

Okra is a scary ingredient to some because of the slime that it naturally produces, but the slime does not really come out in this recipe.

And even if it does, a little bit in the batter helps the batter thicken up.

So, yellow cornmeal is super sweet and it really adds a golden color to our corn cakes.

Baking powder helps the corn cake rise and become nice and fluffy.

Think about the best pancake you've ever had.

That's what this corn cake should look like.

A little bit of granulated sugar.

A little pinch of salt.

And remember, we'll add some more salt to the finished product.

The next thing we'll add is some freshly grated garlic.

I really love the flavor of freshly grated garlic because it's super juicy and you can really taste the difference between grated garlic and jarred garlic.

One egg that was lightly beaten.

Minced jalapeno, a little bit of spice.

Some minced scallions.

And, of course, our okra.

Now we're gonna bind it all together with some water.

And you want some cold water.

Now, the batter might look loose at first, however, I promise you, the okra slime helps bind it all together.

The slime is now our friend.

Fresh lemon zest brightens up any dish.

And I really like the taste of fresh lemon zest in this fried dish because it helps almost lighten it as well.

So now we're gonna mix it all together.

And when you're mixing this batter, you want to be sure to incorporate all the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients because we do not want a lumpy batter.

When I was growing up, my parents used to make cornbread and it was right from the box.

And it required only a couple of extra ingredients.

And I remember that was about 30 cents a box and it was my favorite thing of all time.

It's time to start frying these corn cakes.

So as you can see, the pan is getting smoking hot.

So a little bit of vegetable oil goes a long way.

So I'm gonna just add enough to coat the bottom of the pan.

And you can always add more.

So I'm using about a quarter cup scoop here.

You can use a ladle.

And this does get messy, so that's okay.

So we're gonna add just a little bit at a time here.

(batter sizzles in pan) And you want to flip them just as soon as the crust on the outer layer starts to form.

The bubbles start to form in the middle of the corn cake.

I can see that there's a ring of golden batter forming on the outside of these corn cakes, so I'm gonna go ahead and flip them over.

(cakes sizzle in pan) (soft music) Now, every pan's a little bit different and each stove works a little bit different.

My first one got a little crispy and that's bound to happen.

The more corn cakes you make, the easier it'll get for you.

So gonna add a little bit more oil, just a couple table spoon or so.

And I'm going to use our scoop and just get a little bit.

So I'm just gonna keep frying them.

And this batter will make, you know, about 22-inch in diameter corn cakes.

And I'm removing it to a tray with a paper towel that's helping soak up any extra grease.

(soft music) And I am salting them while they're hot, so the salt sticks to the hot oil.

Don't be shy with that salt on these corn cakes.

Perfect.

All right.

Got a little oil on my shirt.

But, you know, they make these aprons.

You're supposed to wear them all the way up, but I decided to wear a half an apron.

So the okra corn cakes, they're hot, they're crispy.

Some of them, I even put some pickled shrimp on top.

I have a really great recipe for pickled shrimp.

And if you want to keep things simple, you can even take a corn cake, top it with a little bit of this crema.

And a crema, well, how I like to make it, at least, is sour cream, lemon zest, chives and a little bit of salt.

And that's all you really need for a great party appetizer.

You can even add some crab salad on top if you want to really get fancy.

Thank you for watching.

I'm Lauren Furey.

And catch you next time on "Now We're Cookin'."

(soft music)