Bamia

Bamia means okra in Arabic. This dish actually is from Egypt. I very much enjoyed it over rice. This recipe has no onions or garlic in it. Actually the Prophet Muhammad Sallah Allah Wali Wasalam (Peace Be Upon Him) hated onions and garlic. He did not like the taste or the smell.

Also there is a Hadith that says if you go to the masjid for Jummah namaz (Friday prayer) that some find the odor of garlic and onions offensive and is asked not to eat it before going. Otherwise this is still a yummy dish and I am going to show you on how to make it because it is so simple.

In my cast iron skillet I added 1/4 cup of olive oil. In my mortar and pestle I added 1 clove, 1 broken piece of cinnamon, 1 pinch each of allspice, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black peppercorns. I crushed them until they were ground in to a powder.

I added this to the skillet which I have on high heat. I added 1 pinch each of sumac, red chili powder and cinnamon powder if I did not add the broken piece of cinnamon stick with 1 bay leaf, either 2 pinches of vegtea seasoning or seasoned salt.

I added 2 dashes of balsamic vinegar, 1 package of frozen or fresh whole okra, 1 tbs of lemon juice, 1 tbs of tomato paste or 1 can of peeled roma tomatoes in their juice since it is very mushy and 1/4 cup of water.

I let it cook for 15 minutes on low heat after the tomato paste disolved and started to become more like a sauce. In instant pot duo crisp add the same amount of everything but fry the whole okra and spices in the oil for one minute using the sauté button then pressure cook the okra on hi for 6 minutes then tap the quick release valve.

This will bring the pressure down. Open the pot and add 2 tbs of tomato paste and let desolve to form a sauce. Turn off the instant pot because it is ready. This can be eaten with rice or with pita bread.