If you’ve ever lived in Miami, you you probably remember “chicken kitchen” - its the infamous chicken diner/restaurant that every teenager visited on a regular basis! Chicken Kitchen is/was (I don’t event know if it exists anymore) was the bomb !

The reason why I called this post Okra Chicken Kitchen is because it’s catchy and because I spent my evening in the kitchen making this dish! :)

From start to finish, it took about 1.5 hours to make. You can probably do it faster, but I am a slow cook and I really enjoy the process. I love cutting vegetables, prepping everything nicely on the counter, taking pics and posting instagram stories. I find the entire process relaxing and therapeutic. I also play my favorite Salsa Cubana Spotify playlist and dance around in my kitchen !

Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:

Okra (1 package)
1 can of tomato sauce (500ML). I used Pusateri’s Tomato Meat Sauce. This is one of my favorite sauces but unfortunately , it’s only available in Toronto. So if you are in Toronto, definitely get it. Otherwise other sauces will do just fine.
3 tbsp of honey
1/2 cup of water
1/2 yellow onion - thinly diced in mini cubes
Mushrooms (1 package)
1 pound of ground chicken
pinch of dried parsley, dill, seasoning, sea salt and spices
1/3 cup of chicken broth
1 clove of fresh garlic

Prep all the ingredients as follows:

Wash the okra, cut off the stems and put it on a plate. Set it aside.
Wash the mushrooms, peel off the topcoat, slice them and put in a bowl. Set aside.
Chop 1/2 head of yellow onion and dice it up into smaller cubes. I really recommend yellow onion as its sweet. It will really help with the flavor the dish. Put the diced onion in a bowl and set aside.
Create the tomato sauce mixture: Mix 500ML of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of water in a larger bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of honey to dilute the acidity of the tomato sauce. Here’s the thing - some people like acidity, so you may not want to dilute the sauce. Since acidic foods and beverages give me a terrible heartburn, I dilute it! Honey will give this mixture a sweet note, but it’s not overpowering. Once you start cooking everything, the vegetables will absorb the sweetness/honey and you won’t taste it in the dish.
Place the ground chicken in a big bowl and sprinkle in the dried parsley, dill; add a pinch of salt, pepper, and seasoning (I use a chicken seasoning from @shedfarms in Prince Edward County). Mix that up and set aside.

Set all your ingredients on the kitchen counter and start cooking:

Fry the okra on medium heat for about 10 minutes in a PAN. I fry it first because it holds it’s shape better. Otherwise, okra tends to become really mushy and can fall apart when cooked. I also use grape seed, sunflower oil or ghee for frying and sautéing. I don’t fry or cook with olive oil as it’s not made for high heat. Once the okra becomes brownish, take it off the pan and put it on a dish. Set aside.
In a large cooking POT, melt a teaspoon of ghee. Once the ghee warms up, add in the chopped onion.
Fry the onions for 3 minutes on high heat, add in sea salt and pepper as needed. Once the onions are brownish, add in the mushrooms and turn the heat to medium.
Sautee the onions and mushrooms for 5 more minutes on medium heat. Add more a pinch of sea salt and stir.
Add in the minced meat/ground chicken into the pot. Turn the heat to medium - high, as the chicken needs to cook through completely. Add a few drops of water in case th meat is sticky. Keep on stirring the minced chicken and vegetables and if you see that it is cooking well, lower the heat to medium. Cook the chicken for 8-10 minute on medium heat.
Add in the okra to the pot, followed by tomato sauce mixture. Add 1/3 cup of broth and cover with a lid. Bring it to boil on medium heat. When it starts to boil, adjust the heat to low (it will still cook but with smaller bubbles).
Make sure all the okra is completely covered with liquid - you may need to add more broth or more water. Add sea salt, pepper, spices and 1 clove of garlic. Let it all cook at low heat for 20-25 minutes until the okra is ready.
Take it off the stove, and take out the garlic clove (I don’t like to eat the garlic, so I take it out). You can serve it with rice or buckwheat or eat it by itself!
BON APPETIT !