Bamieh bil Zeit | باميه بالزيت.

Bamieh, Bamia, or what is also known as Okra and apparently some people refer to it as “Lady finger”, when I type an Arabic word in English it is very difficult to be precise in the choice of letters for the accent differs from one person to another in our region.

Anyhow, I am one of the people who loooooovvvvveee Bamieh, I mean really, this vegetable tastes so good and different from anything else. This is a vegetarian dish and I have noticed that most Middle-Eastern dishes are vegetarian but we tend to add meat to them, so when checking my recipes, just try to look for the ones that can substitute the meat.

I am always so curious to why Okra is not so much used in the west ?

History

Apparently Bamieh or Okra is mostly found in Asia, Ethiopia and West Africa. The Egyptians have used it since the 12th and 13th century, and is very well-known in the Middle-East and between all Arabs as Bamieh or Bamia.

Benefits

Bamieh / Okra is very low in calories, they provide 30 calories per 100g, has neither saturated fat nor cholesterol. They are rich in dietary fiber, minerals, and vitamins.

I must admit to you that so many people are turned off by the bamieh as soon as they are introduced to the dish because of its slimy appearance after cooking. I personally don’t mind it maybe because I grew up with it and I love the taste of it.

The recipe below is a famous Lebanese dish and is called Bamieh bil Zeit (which mean Okra soaked in olive oil) and is usually eaten with pita bread. What most Palestinians and Jordanians make is Okra stew or Bamieh bil Bandora “Bamia in Tomatoes”, hopefully I will share the Okra stew recipe with you soon in the following months. Meanwhile give this amazing Bamieh bel Zeit a try at home.

Using my Canon 70D… Read more for the full recipe.