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Curried Tomatoes with Okra
Scald and peel half a dozen medium-sized tomatoes; cut them in halves across, scoop out the seeds, then cut them in small pieces and stew for ten minutes with 1 tablespoonful of butter, 1 teaspoonful of curry powder, 1 teaspoonful of salt, and 1 tablespoonful of chopped onion.
Put a layer of okra in a baking-dish with a cover; over it put a layer of the seasoned tomatoes, sprinkle over it a few fine bread crumbs, and strew plentiful bits of butter over the crumbs. Put another layer of okra, tomato, and crumbs until the dish is full. Have a rather thick layer of crumbs on the top. Distribute bits of butter well over the top, and bake half an hour in a rather quick oven. Uncover the dish for the last ten minutes and let the top brown nicely. Take it out of the oven and scatter thickly over the top mixed nuts chopped fine.
While the dish has been cooking make a sauce by rubbing together 1 tablespoonful of butter and 1 of flour; add 1 cupful of boiling water, and cook until smooth and thick; and the juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, and a dash of cayenne. Strain the sauce over the top of the tomatoes and okra, and serve in the same dish with boiled rice.
A layered gratin of stewed curried tomato and okra, finished with a lemon-butter sauce poured over at the table. The original assumes you know what to do with the okra, which is the one thing worth settling before you start.
- The okraNo quantity or preparation is given: reckon on about 1 lb of small fresh pods, stemmed and cut into 1/2-inch rounds, which is roughly what six tomatoes will cover in three layers. Frozen cut okra works if thawed and drained well first, or the dish will weep.
- Keeping it from going slimyAcid and dry heat are both generally held to cut okra's sliminess, and this dish supplies both. Do not pre-boil the pods, and do not skip the covered baking followed by the uncovered browning; that final ten minutes is what dries the surface.
- Oven heat"A rather quick oven" is somewhere around 400-425F. At that heat the covered half-hour cooks the okra through and the last ten minutes uncovered browns the crumb top.
- Baking dishUse a shallow covered casserole or a gratin dish with foil for the first twenty minutes. Depth works against you here: a wide dish gives more crumb surface and drier okra.
- Curry powderPeriod curry powders were often milder and more turmeric-led than many blends sold now, so start with the teaspoon called for and taste the stewed tomato before it goes into the dish.
- The sauceThis is a plain white roux made with water rather than milk, thickened, then sharpened with lemon and cayenne. Add the boiling water gradually off the heat to avoid lumps, and add the lemon juice at the end so it does not thin the starch.
- The nuts"Mixed nuts chopped fine" means whatever unsalted nuts are at hand. Scatter them after the dish leaves the oven, as instructed, or they scorch.
- YieldServes four as a main course with the rice, or six as a side. The sauce is enough for the whole dish; strain it as directed to catch any lumps of roux.