Title: Bamia (Baked Okra with Lemon)
Categories: Jewish Israel Turkey
Yield: 6 Servings

1	tb	Corn oil or chicken fat
1/2	lb	Ripe tomatoes, fresh or canned, diced
1/2	ts	Salt, or to taste
1	lb	Young okra, rinsed & trimmed 1/8-in from stem & tip
1/2	c	Water
1		Lemon's juice, or more, to taste

Following are two methods of preparing okra, that extraordinary plant of the cotton family. It is one of the most honored vegetables in Turkey, in Oriental cooking, and on the Indian subcontinent.

1. Grease a heatproof glass or other rectangular baking dish with oil or fat. Spread the diced tomato over the bottom and sprinkle with salt.

2. Lay each okra flat over the tomato in one or more layers. Pour the water over all. Bake in a preheated 350F oven abt 45 minutes, enough to cook okra but not long enough to dissolve it into mush. Do not stir during baking. Remove dish from oven and pour the lemon juice over all.

Serve warm. Serves 6 with other dishes.

VARIATION: Bamia may be baked with chicken, a most popular combination. Just place 1 small chicken (2 pounds) or Cornish game hen, cut into 4 pieces, on top of the okra and baked as directed.

Recipe: "Sephardic Cooking" by Copeland Mark -- 600 Recipes Created in Exotic Sephardic Kitchens from Morocco to India -- Copyright 1992 Published by Donald I. Fine, Inc., New York, N.Y. DPileggi in Houston, Texas

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