The colder winter months require comforting stews and this okra and meat dish delivers!

In the winter months when I make lots of stews for my family I like to cook my meat and chicken in batches when I know what I am cooking for the week. It really helps to have the protein and broth ready, cutting down on the cooking time, so I can have home cooked meals on the table super fast on weekdays.

Although I am not typically a huge fan of okra, except when it is breaded and fried the southern way in the US, even I crave the comfort of this tomato-based hug in a bowl. The secret to not having really soft and slimy okra is to buy the really small ones, usually found in Middle Eastern shops in the frozen section. They are usually called “okra zero” which indicates the small size. Flash frying the okra also ensures that it stays intact when it is cooked in the stew. You could also use fresh okra, but I rarely find small fresh okra.

Once you have your meat and okra prepared, the stew comes together really quickly. Using some of the frying oil from the okra means you’ll get the okra flavour and you’ll cut down on waste! Once all of your ingredients are in the stew, let it cook until it reaches the thickness you like. The amount of garlic and spice in this stew depends on personal taste, so feel free to tweak it to your liking.

The way I like to serve any tomato based stew is with a generous squeeze of lemon and some shatta or Middle Eastern chilli paste, but hot sauce or fresh chillies are also an option! Serve with vermicelli rice or bread and enjoy!

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g boneless or bone-in meat chunks (beef or lamb)

3 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, quartered

1 bay leaf

½ cinnamon stick

5 cardamom pods

10 black peppercorns

400g okra (frozen)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

500g passata

1-1½ cups reserved meat broth

Salt

Pepper

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp garlic paste

2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions