Cafe Liz

Tucked away in the recesses of the Carmel Market is a guy who caters to the Thai workers, selling all sorts of weird vegetable delights — bumpy gourds, eggplants smaller than olives, yucca roots, foot-long green beans and massive okra, not to mention greens that even he can’t identify. But for now, we’re going to concentrate on the okra — so-called Indian okra. Local okra tends to be small, like narrow acorns, what we know as the “baladi” kind — [...]

If you’re like me, and you don’t see 33-degree Celsius weather as a reason not to indulge in a hot bowl of soup, this recipe is for you. It’s simple, and it doesn’t have too many seasonings. It doesn’t need to — summer’s fresh bounty adds flavor enough. One thing this soup is not is gummy. One of the excuses people have for not liking okra is the viscous sap. Fortunately, that can be done away with by frying the [...]