Olive Oil Basics

In recent times olive oil has created shelf space in kitchen racks across the globe. Many cuisines pride in their olive oil-based cooking and others have adopted this fruit based ingredient owing to its health benefits. But is olive oil compatible with all culinary styles.

I'm an Indian and the food in my part of the world is all about spices, high temperature seasoning (tadhka) and strong flavours. Though I'm not an expert at food and cooking I think I can safely conclude that most typical Indian cuisine ingredients would do well with flavourless or lighly flavoured oils. Extra Virgin  Olive Oil (EVOO) has a strong flavour and low smoking point and using it in Indian cooking would render the oil 'broken' thus producing an unpleasant strong aftertaste. Most experts would recommend using Olive Pomace oil in Indian cooking (Read link below) as it has a relatively higher smoking point and is not very strong in terms of flavours when compared with EVOO.

"I'm a huge fan of olive oil in Lebanese food; I could kill to lap up the olive oil atop a scoop of fresh and creamy houmous (chickpea paste). It enhances the flavour of the dish making it a more satiating and pleasurable experience for the taste buds."

Dad loves the food I make and mom enjoys it as well; so I got down to cooking this morning. Pulling out some fresh green okra from the refrigerator I began thinking of how I could cook this slender and crisp 'vege'. As a south-Indian from Managlore the regular style would be 'tel-piyao' (oil and onion based). But I wanted to make something different so I decided to create my very own 'Pepper Okra'.

PEPPER OKRA

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

 500 gms okra
1 large potato
1 large onion
1 tsp pepper corns
2 tbsp olive oil*
Salt to taste

*I used EVOO but I recommend using neutral flavoured oils or you could try olive pomace oil.

 

Method:

1. Rinse the okra thoroughly and keep aside in strainer.
2. Wash, peel and slice the onion.
3. Wash, peel and cut the potato into cuboids. 
4. Now cut the okra using a slant move with your knife such that the potato and okra pieces are of the similar size to ensure uniform cooking time.
5. Add olive oil into nonstick pan. Now add the pepper corns. 
6. When pepper corns splutter add onions when medium hot and caramelise the latter.
7. Now add potatoes and a little water and cover and cook on slow flame until potatoes are done. 
8. Then add the okra and salt and cook till okra is medium cooked but crisp. Sprinkle with pepper powder for extra flavour.

This dish calls for sauteing on a high flame to render the okra and potatoes crispy. Using EVOO is a big no-no in such a case as the high temperature would 'break' the oil and this would give out an unpleasant and strong after taste.

Then next time I try out this recipe I'd would use olive pomace oil or any other neutral flavoured oil like sunflower oil.

Verdict: 

"Though the taste was good the olive flavour slightly goofed it up." - Mom

 

Reference Links:

• http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-14/diet/29896935_1_extra-virgin-olive-oil-olive-pomace

• http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-07/diet/30606774_1_pomace-leonardo-olive-oil-dalmia-continental