Summer in the deep Deep South is no joke. Yes, we have splendid winters and spring is nice but summer is a wee bit challenging. Of course the oppressive heat and humidity gives us something about which to complain. Chronic complainers have no shortage of material.
The trade-off is that we harvest all sorts of fruits and vegetables that are divine in their own right, but they’re also iconic. Their notability is known far and wide. One such vegetable is one of my favorites: okra. I’ve never met an okra pod cooked in any of a variety of methods, that I didn’t love. Throw me some okra anyway you please and I’m a happy individual.
Okra Jalapeno Fritters with Comeback Sauce
In my younger days, my palate didn’t tolerate much in the way of heat. In fact, it was downright wimpish. Anything hotter than ground black pepper wasn’t to my liking. As I’ve aged and my taste buds have lost sensitivity, I find some heat pleasing to my palate. Instead of turning away from spicy foods, I look for ways to incorporate moderate heat.
Hot peppers are common among Southern kitchen gardens. I’ve seen many tiny little women eat peppers so hot I was afraid their heads would blow off their shoulders. On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve witnessed many big ol’ Southern boys consume peppers so hot I was afraid they would dehydrate from the buckets of sweat that poured off their heads. I suppose the lesson learned is that body size has no bearing on the heat tolerance of the mouth or anything beyond the gullet. Hot is hot and it burns today and will burn tomorrow, too.
So, this batch of fritters I whipped up had just the right amount of heat to make them tolerable and pleasing to my semi-wimpish palate. For more heat, leave in the seeds and membranes of the jalapeno. For less heat, remove them all.
Summertime and okra. It’s really a beautiful time of the year.
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Okra Jalapeno Fritters
Fritters are small bits of batter loaded with fruits or vegetables and fried until the outside is crispy but the inside remains soft. A combination of okra, sweet onions and jalapeno peppers make tasty fritters. Comeback Sauce is the best dipping sauce for these little nuggets.
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup stone ground corn meal
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups sliced okra
1/2 medium Vidalia onion, finely chopped
1 medium jalapeño pepper, minced
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
Add flour, corn meal and salt to a bowl and stir.
To flour mixture, add okra, onions and jalapeño pepper. Stir until vegetables are coated.
Whisk buttermilk and egg. Pour over vegetable mixture. Stir until dry ingredients are wet.
Add enough of cooking oil to a large cast iron skillet for 1/2 inches deep and heat to 350 degrees.
Drop a scant tablespoon of mixture into hot oil. Press flat with the back of the spoon. Don’t crowd in the pan. Work in batches.
Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until brown on one side.
Flip and repeat.
Remove and drain on wire rack. Sprinkle with coarse salt.
Serve with Comeback Sauce.
Okra Jalapeno Fritters
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup stone ground corn meal
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups sliced okra
- 1/2 medium Vidalia onion finely chopped
- 1 medium jalapeno pepper minced
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Add flour, corn meal and salt to a bowl and stir.
- To flour mixture, add okra, onions and jalapeno pepper. Stir until vegetables are coated.
- Whisk buttermilk and egg. Pour over vegetable mixture. Stir until dry ingredients are wet.
- Add enough of cooking oil to a large cast iron skillet for 1/2 inches deep and heat to 350 degrees.
- Drop a scant tablespoon of mixture into hot oil. Press flat with the back of the spoon. Don't crowd in the pan. Work in batches.
- Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until brown on one side.
- Flip and repeat.
- Remove and drain on wire rack. Sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Serve with Comeback Sauce.
Jean says
Jackie!!!!!!!!!!! This sounds heavenly! I will be trying this. We have the same mindset on okra and I like a bit of the hot! YUMMM!!!
Jackie Garvin says
Jean,
I hope you give this recipe a spin. I sure liked the way it turned out. Happy 4th of July!
Stephanie @ Plain Chicken says
I bet those are amazing with the Comeback Sauce!!!
Jackie Garvin says
Stephanie,
It’s pretty doggone good! Thanks for stopping by.
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says
When I moved to Tennessee from Maine as a young adult, I found ‘okry’ an acquired taste that took years. The texture was what got me. Now I love it and serving fritters with comeback sauce sounds so good.
Jackie Garvin says
Maureen,
I get what you mean about an acquired taste. However, I do believe my taste for okey is congenital. 🙂
Sue, a Florida Farm Girl says
Yum!!! These sound good.
Jackie Garvin says
Thank , Sue!
Stacy says
I’ve recently come around to liking okra. I fried some for the very first time a couple of weeks ago. I did flour, cornmeal and salt and pepper. Dipped in egg and then flour mixture and fried it. I thought it was missing a kick…this recipe might be exactly what it was missing!!!! Thanks for sharing!
Jackie Garvin says
Stacy,
If you love the taste of okra and like a kick, this has your name written all over it.
Ronda says
Hi Ms. Jackie! This recipe sounds so yummy. We are having a fish fry next weekend and I was thinking these would be a delicious alternative to our traditional hushpuppies. I was wondering if using sliced frozen okra would be ok, thawed of course. Thank you.
Jackie Garvin says
Hi Ronda,
This sounds so good with fried fish! I’ll have to remember that. You absolutely can use frozen thawed okra instead of fresh.
Ronda says
Hi Ms. Jackie!
I just want to give you an update on these fabulous Okra Jalapeno Fritters. I gave them a trial run about a month ago as a side for at a fish fry and they were a tremendous hit! So for the 4th of July we had a huge family get together and another fish fry and I quadrupled your recipe and they just FLEW off the platter, they went faster than the Mac and cheese which never happens!! LOL I did half exactly as you wrote and the other half with extra jalapenos for the adults. I did use the frozen okra thawed and it worked perfectly. Thanks again for sharing another awesome recipe!
Jackie Garvin says
Yay! I’m so happy to hear they worked out for you. ❤️
Mary Wooley says
Hey Jackie Garvin! I read your post about Okra Jalapeno Fritters for Super Bowl Sunday and wondered where in the name of Sam Hill would I find okra this time of year worthy of cooking. (It’s 26* outside as I write this!). After pondering your recipe for a few days, I decided why not use what I have? FROZEN, BREADED OKRA!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, OMG, OMG! After letting the okra thaw up enough to become gooey, I added just a little more cornmeal and flour, an egg and the buttermilk. I sliced and diced a jalapeno pepper and off to the races I went… I started my fritters in an iron skillet on top of the stove with enough vegetable oil to generously coat the bottom of the skillet. Once the edges started to brown, I flipped them over and put them in the oven to finish. Can you say “Hallelujah, Amen”? Perfect okra and I’m doing my happy dance! THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!
Jackie Garvin says
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Steven says
Thank you for this recipe. We are serving in West Africa where okra (or ngombo as it is called here) originated. It is wonderful to have another good use for this vegetable. No jalapeños here but the local hot peppers worked beautifully. Thank you for sharing this.
Jackie Garvin says
I hope you enjoy!
Bessie A Ashby says
This sounds so good, but I cannot get to the store for Okra. is there anything I can use in place of it?
Jackie Garvin says
You can use a variety of vegetables in critters. Corn and jalapeño would be very good!
Toni Carroll says
Can’t wait to try this recipe Jackie. I was born and raised in Mississippi so I grew up on okra and love it. Jackson, Mississippi is also where Come Back sauce was first created at a local restaurant. It will go perfectly with these fritters. Thanks for this recipe.
Jackie Garvin says
I hope you enjoy, Toni!