Demystify Okra: Paleo Gumbo with Lotus Root

For all of you seafood lovers out there this is a must try. YUMM! This is a gumbo inspired quick dish, so if you’re Southern you probably really know how to make a great savory gumbo that cooks a lot longer than this dish. But then again, most of our dishes are designed to be quick, so that everyone can make and enjoy them. 🙂

I made this in a large non-stick Wok, but any large pan will do just fine. This dish will feed 2 (Svendblad’s) or 4 people for dinner with a side dish. We chose to make some Cauliflower rice, since we love it so much, but without bacon this time and white Cauliflower rice.

Here’s what I used in this dish:

1 large yellow onion, finely sliced
2 tbsp coconut oil
4 Serrano peppers, seeds in and chopped
1 very large tomato, I used one that is the equivalent of 3 or 4 small vine ripe ones, chopped

Combine the ingredients above and cook them on medium-high for about 10 – 15 minutes, everything should be cooked down quite a bit, then add

2 tbsp tomato paste
2 cups of water
Sea Salt to taste
1 tbsp Paprika
1 tbsp Chili powder
1 tsp Caraway Seed
2 tsp Marjoram, grind between your palms to activate spice
10 slices of Lotus Root, it is a fabulous substitute to water chestnuts, is great in stir-fry and is just really pretty
3 cups of Okra, cut stem top off and soak in 2 parts water, 1 part Coconut vinegar for 15 minutes. Rinse and cut into chunks – see picture; (discard vinegar and water)

Continue to cook on medium heat for another 5 – 7 minutes, then add the shrimp or prawns and cook on medium heat until all prawns are no longer transparent.