Bamia Masreya
The Egyptian okra stew: smaller pods than the Levantine version, more tomato, and finished with a hit of fried garlic and coriander stirred in at the end.
Photograph credit: Du bamia avec du riz en février 2022 by Benoît Prieur · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
The taqliya — garlic and ground coriander fried hard in oil and poured in at the end — is what separates this from every other okra stew in the region. It goes in during the last two minutes so it stays sharp and almost raw-tasting against the long-cooked tomato underneath. Stirred in earlier it simply disappears. As with any okra, the pods stay whole and the cook is long: an hour and a quarter, and the slipperiness is gone entirely.
Bamia Masreya: Step by Step
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Trim the okra by paring the stem cone away without opening the pod.
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Brown the lamb hard in 3 tbsp oil in two batches, about 8 minutes. Lift out.
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Soften the onions in the same pan 8 minutes, stir in the tomato purée and cook it out 2 minutes.
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Return the lamb with the tomatoes, salt, pepper and water. Simmer covered 45 minutes.
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Add the whole okra, pushing it under the liquid, and simmer uncovered 25 minutes more, shaking the pan rather than stirring.
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For the taqliya, fry the garlic and ground coriander in 3 tbsp oil over high heat for 45 seconds, until fiercely fragrant and just beginning to colour. Add the chilli flakes.
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Pour the taqliya into the stew, stir once, and cook a final 2 minutes. Serve with rice and lemon.
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Tips That Matter
- Whole pods, always. Cut okra is slimy okra.
- The taqliya goes in at the end — that is the Egyptian signature.
- Shake the pan rather than stirring once the okra is in.
Changing the Recipe
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
What to Serve With It
Plain rice · Aish baladi · Torshi
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Eish Merahrah, Roz Mermah, Egyptian Rice with Vermicelli.
Storage
Refrigerated for 4 days and better the next day. It freezes for 3 months.
What's in a Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. Garnishes, greasing and other items with no amount are not counted. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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