Name: Okra Ragout (Bamya Bastisi)
Yield: To Serve 4
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: 1 tsp salt or to taste; 1 tsp red pepper; rice pilaf; 50 ml/2 fl oz vinegar; 500 g/1 lb okra; 250 g/8 oz lamb, cubed; 2 tbsp salt; 50 ml/2 fl oz lemon juice or verjuice or ½ tsp lemon salt; 200 g/7 oz tomatoes; 50 g/2 oz cooking fat or melted sheep’s tail fat; 150 g/5 oz onions, finely chopped

Preparation info

To Serve
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Nevin Halici's Turkish Cookbook

By Nevin Halici

Published 1989

About

Bastı – vegetable ragout – can be made with a small amount of meat added, as for the okra and courgette ragouts featured here. Generally ragouts with fruit are cooked with rice but without meat.

Ingredients

500 g/1 lb okra
50 ml/2 fl oz</

Method

Trim the tops of the okra, pour vinegar over them, and sprinkle with salt; mix thoroughly with both hands, and leave for 30 minutes. This treatment “bleaches” the okra and prevents them from losing their texture.

Put the meat in a heavy pan, cover and place on the heat. When it absorbs its own juices and begins to sizzle, add the fat and onions and fry, uncovered, for 4-5 minutes, stirr