Okra with Chicken and Vegetables (Bamija s piletinom i povrcem)

It has been a while since we wrote on our blog, but we were both really busy.  We'll try and make it up in the coming months.  We have been trying to cook lighter and healthier food, lots of salads, vegetarian and pescetarian recipes.  Once in a while we eat chicken.  Recently I made this recipe with okra, chicken breast and other vegetables and served it with cooked rice.  We both liked it and the meal wasn't heavy.  My family makes recipes with okra and I always liked the taste of it.  Here is the recipe for this tasty okra and chicken dish.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 chicken breasts, sliced into cubes
•  about 1 pound of okra (fresh, or you can buy already sliced frozen okra)
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 carrot, peeled and sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tomato, peeled and cubed
• tomato sauce (optional) - you can add if you would like a stronger tomato taste
• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley
• salt, pepper and Vegeta (to taste)

Directions:

• Heat up oil, add sliced chicken and saute until it starts browning
• Add onion and carrot and keep cooking for about 30 minutes
• In the meantime, prepare okra.  (Okra is usually very slimy and this can be good too because this makes the sauce thicker, but in this recipe I found a good way of getting rid of much of this slimy texture.)  
• Wash okra well and do not cut it yet. 
• Boil water in a pot and add the whole okras and boil for a few minutes.  
• Take out, drain and let cool.  
• After this, cut the top and bottom end of it and throw out, like shown in the photo below.  

• Cut the rest of the okra, like shown in the photo below, into about 1/2 - 1 inch thick pieces, and put to the side

• After cooking chicken for about 30 minutes, add the cubed tomato, garlic and salt to the chicken, mix well and cook for a few minutes
• Add sliced okra, stir and keep cooking until everything softens, add more salt (if needed), pepper and Vegeta 

• When done, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with white rice or mashed potatoes.  You can also served it with fresh bread.
  
   

Bon apetit!  Dobar tek! :-P