{"id":16651,"date":"2025-09-09T10:45:53","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T10:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/uncategorized\/smashed-okra-fries-2\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T18:24:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:24:31","slug":"fried-green-tomatoes-and-tangy-basil-mayo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/recipe\/fried-green-tomatoes-and-tangy-basil-mayo\/","title":{"rendered":"Fried Green Tomatoes and Tangy Basil Mayo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p class=\"back-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/fall-2025\/the-new-comfort-food-plant-based-recipes-from-the-south-to-the-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Back to Food Article<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_16636\" style=\"width: 760px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Fried-Green-Tomatoes_750.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16636\" class=\"wp-image-16636 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Fried-Green-Tomatoes_750.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Fried-Green-Tomatoes_750.jpg 750w, https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Fried-Green-Tomatoes_750-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Fried-Green-Tomatoes_750-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Fried-Green-Tomatoes_750-570x570.jpg 570w, https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Fried-Green-Tomatoes_750-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Fried-Green-Tomatoes_750-700x700.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-16636\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Southern Fried Green Tomatoes<\/p><\/div>\n<h5><strong>Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> Some ingredients (like \u201cMagic Mayo\u201d and \u201cGarlic Paste\u201d) appear in other sections of Make It Plant-Based! Southern and are not reprinted here. To enjoy the complete version, see the full cookbook.<\/h5>\n<div class=\"recipe-card\"><\/p>\n<h3>Fried Green Tomatoes and Tangy Basil Mayo<\/h3>\n<p class=\"servings\">Makes 4 to 6 servings<\/p>\n<p><strong>TANGY BASIL MAYO<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>\u00bd cup Magic Mayo (page 151)<\/li>\n<li>5 pepperoncini peppers<\/li>\n<li>1 tablespoon pepperoncini pepper liquid from the jar<\/li>\n<li>1 tablespoon olive oil<\/li>\n<li>1 garlic clove, peeled, or\n\u00bd teaspoon Garlic Paste (page 163)<\/li>\n<li>\u00bd tightly packed cup fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish<\/li>\n<li>1 \u00bd teaspoons maple syrup<\/li>\n<li>1 teaspoon kosher salt<\/li>\n<li>1 teaspoon paprika<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>FRIED GREEN TOMATOES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Preheat the oven to 400\u00b0F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease it with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.<\/p>\n<p>Trim off any stems left on the wide ends of the okra. Transfer the okra to a gallon-size resealable bag. Place a kitchen towel on the counter to pad it and lay the bag \ufb02at on top. Using a rolling pin or the bottom of a glass bottle, gently hit the okra, smashing the pods just enough to break them open and expose their seeds. Don\u2019t oversmash the okra pods; you want to keep them in whole pieces.<\/p>\n<p>Add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, the cornstarch, milk, salt, garlic powder, and sugar to the bag. Vigorously shake the bag around, ensuring the batter is thoroughly mixed and evenly coats the okra.<\/p>\n<p>Spread out the okra on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the coating on the okra is lightly browned and crisped. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and \ufb02ip the okra over using a small offset spatula. Return the okra to the oven and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until evenly golden brown and crisp to the touch.<\/p>\n<p>Sprinkle with an extra pinch of salt while the okra is still hot. Serve with fresh lemon wedges and a dipping sauce of your choice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Freestyle It<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Make the dipping sauce uniquely yours. You can swap in any tender herb, such as cilantro or parsley, for the basil. And if you don\u2019t keep jarred pepperoncini on hand, feel free to reach for any other pickled situation. A handful of drained capers, chopped dill pickles, or chopped pickled jalape\u00f1os will do the trick.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-credit\">Recipes excerpted from <em>Make It Plant-Based! Southern<\/em> by Mehreen Karim (Workman Publishing). Copyright \u00a9 2025. Photographs by Emma Fishman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"back-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/fall-2025\/the-new-comfort-food-plant-based-recipes-from-the-south-to-the-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Back to Food Article<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>View recipe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[209,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2025-recipe","category-recipe"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16651"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16655,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16651\/revisions\/16655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}