The first snow of the season has arrived this morning. The rain turned to snow for few minutes, giving us a brief glimpse of coming season. It was cold enough, so to warm the house and the stomach, I cranked up the oven to 400° F and baked cornbread with okra toppings. This is my first attempt at cornbread and it was a success, thanks to the detailed recipe written by Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries. I changed the recipe to my liking and also added crisply fried okra as cornbread topping.
Recipe:
Okra topping :
1 cup thinly sliced okra rounds, one onion, three green chillies and two garlic cloves all finely chopped. Saute them in oil, until they turn crisp and crunchy, like you normally do for a dry curry.
Cornbread Batter :
• Mix together 1 cup yellow cornmeal, 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour, 1 tsp each- baking powder and soda, 1/2 tsp salt.
• In another bowl, mix – 2 eggs (I removed yellows), 1 cup buttermilk, 4 tablespoons of molasses/sugar and 4 tablespoons of peanut oil.
• Combine the dry and wet ingredients.
• I also added half cup watermelon seeds that I brought from Nandyala to this mixture for some nutty crunch and nutritional value..
Baking:
Preheat the oven to 400 ° F. When you are ready with cornbread batter and sautéed okra, place the empty iron skillet in oven and heat it up (Barbara’s tip). Remove the hot skillet from the oven. First place the okra in the skillet, then pour the cornbread batter over it. Spread the batter neat and even with a spatula. Place the iron skillet in oven, bake at 400° F, for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the top is lightly browned.
Because this is for our lunch, I also baked some cauliflower florets and some baby lima beans along with cornbread. Just tossed the baby limas and cauliflower florets in some oil, salt and pepper. Spread them on a baking sheet and baked until they turn crisp.
We both liked cornbread with okra very much. Thanks Barbara for the wonderful cornbread recipe.
Baked lima beans are good too, but cauliflower florets…oy!. Not that good. I won’t be baking cauliflower again, ever!
Skillet Cornbread with okra toppings, baked baby lima beans and baked cauliflower florets & Ragi malt ~ our meal today.
Ooh–I like the idea of baking okra to top it!
Great addition!
Comment by Barbara — November 17, 2005 @ 3:23 pm
looks good. i bought raghi flour in Toronto (after seeing it in your blog). The weather has turned cool here too with Montreal seeing it’s first flurries yesterday. am going to make myself some raghi malt as soon as i go home.
Had been quite lost without your blog. :))
Welcome back.
-Mathy
Comment by Mathy — November 17, 2005 @ 3:29 pm
Barbara.. that is fast, I am still doing the editing and adding the links etc., (I do my editing after publishing the post :))
Thanks! I didn’t have enough tomatoes to make chilli or gravy curry to go with the plain cornbread, so instead I added sauteed okra to make the cornbread more substantial meal.
Comment by Indira — November 17, 2005 @ 3:31 pm
Mathy.. thanks for your kind words.
Because this is your first time making this drink, follow the recipe to the last words. No change at all. Enjoy ragi malt!
Comment by Indira — November 17, 2005 @ 3:46 pm
Baking okra in an iron skillet-that is a helluva idea. I love crisp okra. Did the okra crisp up in the cornbread, Indira?
Comment by mika — November 17, 2005 @ 4:09 pm
At 400° F, okra has no choice but to turn crisp. I even cut them into thick chunks to prevent the burnt taste. It worked, they tasted great with cornbread, Mika.
Comment by Indira — November 17, 2005 @ 4:15 pm
Indira–I do not see an email for you listed here. I have a question to ask you about writing–to see if you would be interested–but it is too long to put in a comment here.
If you could email me and I could email you back, I would appreciate it.
Thanks, dear–I am so glad that the skillet cornbread came out. My Grandma would be so pleased–she’s the one who taught me how to make cornbread in a skillet and she would be excited to see the variation you made with the okra–I bet it has the flavor of okra coated in cornmeal and fried, but not all the fat. (She loved crunchy fried okra.)
Comment by Barbara — November 17, 2005 @ 11:52 pm
hey indira, i was watching allstar thansgiving special in FOOD TV and there was a similar kinda recipe , its Emeril’s Skillet Cornbread , he uses bacon in this recipe but i guess u can avoid that since you are a vegetarian.http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_29141,00.html. and i also found Sara’s french apple tart – http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_29145,00.html this tart looked great and is very easy to make
Comment by priya,ar — November 21, 2005 @ 1:43 am
I made this today, very yummy!!! Didn’t have any watermelon seeds nor did I have wheat flour so I used plain old all-purpose flour and went without the seeds. I used purple onions for contrast and my my was it puuuuuuuurrrtyy not to mention very filling and tasty. If only I had a camera, it’s all done (3 of us in less than 20 minutes)
Comment by Chantal — December 31, 2007 @ 7:57 am
Thank you for the above receipe and number of others you have posted and that i have tried.this is first time i used my cast iron skillet and what a beautiful job it did.Keep posting and inspiring people like to me try different.
Comment by Bindu Adi — March 5, 2010 @ 3:11 pm
Dear Indira,
I just stumbled on your site while searching for something– and, boy, am I glad about the serendipitous find 🙂 just love your simple style and recipes!
Please guide me a bit on this delicious sounding corn bread recipe… I want to know if I can bake this a day or two ahead and warm it up in the microwave before serving it? Also, and more importantly, have u used roti atta in this recipe? Can it be used? Am dying to try this out asap! Best wishes
Comment by Sulekha — December 13, 2016 @ 5:15 pm