Okra has a viscous and gelatinous consistency, which, when cooked, I like very much.
I recommend that people develop a taste for this beautifully unique vegetable, as the nutritional and health benefits are well and truly worth it!
This recipe is whole foods, vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, and suitable for people with diabetes. Serving can be without bread but a whole grain such as rice, quinoa, or bulgur wheat.
Okra, is a vegetable first discovered in Ethiopia during the 12th century, otherwise known as Bamia in Arabic or ladies fingers in English speaking regions, is a wonderful fasting-cooking bean. These tender pods are very low in calories, providing just 30 calories per 100g, and contain no saturated fats or cholesterol. They are also rich in nutrients, completely non-toxic, and have no adverse side effects.
Okra is high in both lectins and pectins, which have some fantastic benefits concerning cancer prevention.
A new Brazilian study published earlier this year in the journal Biology Letters discovered that a lectin found in okra killed up to 72 percent of human breast cancer cells in an in vitro setting, primarily by the induction of apoptosis – the programmed cell death of tumor cells. The researchers also found that this particular lectin, located in the okra seeds, slowed the growth of breast cancer cells by 63 percent.
An earlier study, performed in 2010 by French and Dutch researchers and published in the journal Phytotherapy Research found that the pectin could slow the growth of melanoma cells by 75 percent after a 48-hour treatment period. It was also found to multiply the apoptosis rate of the cells by a whopping 23 times.
Okra stew has to be one of my favourite meals. I first discovered this vegetable in Asia, where okra is a staple vegetable, and have been obsessed with it ever since! I've made this recipe dozens of times, and by posting my photo's on my social media, many have asked for the recipe...
So here it is!