Granny's Fried Okra

I LOVE fried okra! My husband's Granny makes the BEST! A couple of years ago I had her show me how she makes it.
Now old school cooks don't measure anything. They just throw it in there or tell you to throw 2 "big" spoons of oil in or use butter the size of an egg ( that is what my granny would tell my mom) anyway it's really hard sometimes to get recipes from some of these cooks who have been cooking for so long that they have it all in their head and never write anything down. So I sat down with granny and watched. This is what I came up with.


Ingredients:


a bunch of okra
2 parts self rising corn meal (not the yellow stuff)
1 part all purpose flour
a pinch of cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying


NOTE: I usually start off using 1 cup of cornmeal and 1/2 flour. Adjust this amount depending on how much okra you are frying.


Directions:

1) Rinse the okra off in a strainer.

2) Chop up okra into bite size pieces removing the head and the tip of the tail. Just throw those 2 pieces away.

3)  If you like a thicker breading like in the picture then place the okra in a bowl with water in it. This helps to bring out the slime and the breading sticks to it better. (yes I said slime, you will see what I'm talking about in a minute) After you soak the okra for about 2 

minutes or so, drain them and set aside.

 4) Dredge the okra in the flour mixture and throw those bad boys in the fryer.

 5) *If you don't like your breading too thick then do not put your okra back into the water after it is cut. Just dredge into the flour mixture and throw them into the fryer without crowding too much.

6)  Fry the okra in oil at 375 degrees for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. If you don't have a fryer then place then in oil in a deep frying pan and cook over med- medium high heat till golden brown, turning when necessary.

7)  Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt.

 *TIP: you don't want your whole okras much more than 2 1/2 inches long. The bigger okras tend to be too hard and do not fry up very well. You can also squeeze them and see how hard they are.