Okra is hailed as the king of vegetables - how do you cook it so it tastes good, and how should you fertilize it?

Okra, native to India, is widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions. In China, the cultivation area is also extremely large in provinces such as Hunan, Hubei and Guangdong. It has long been known as the king of vegetables and has extremely high economic value and edible value. Okra is rich in nutrients and can be used both as food and as medicine. Its effects and functions are extremely powerful, and it is suitable for people with gastritis, anemia and indigestion; in particular, young and middle-aged adults, athletes and men should eat more of it. So how should okra be cooked to taste good? And how should farmers fertilize okra when growing it? Now let me answer these one by one for you.

1. How do you cook okra so it tastes good?

1. Cold-dressed okra

Ingredients: okra, vinegar, light soy sauce, white sugar, sesame oil, garlic.

1. Wash the okra clean and set it aside.

2. Add water to a pot and bring it to a boil, put in the okra, add a few drops of cooking oil, cook for about 2-3 minutes, then remove.

3. Put the cooked okra into cold water to cool, remove the stem ends, and cut into small sections.

4. After cutting, put them in a bowl, add an appropriate amount of light soy sauce and minced garlic, then add a little white sugar, vinegar and sesame oil, mix well, and it is ready to eat.

Cold-dressed okra is suitable for eating in autumn. In autumn, people's skin is dry and their mouth and tongue are parched, so foods that nourish yin and replenish water are suitable. We need to get the blanching time right; cooking it too long will make the okra soft, cause the juice to flow out, and make it easy for the nutritional essence to be lost. Do not cut it open during blanching - this is also to preserve the nutritional essence.

2. Okra scrambled with eggs

Ingredients: okra, eggs, scallions, salt

1. Wash the okra and slice it, beat the eggs and add salt, and chop the scallions.

2. Put the sliced okra into the egg mixture and stir well.

3. Heat oil in a pan, pour in the okra and egg mixture, stir-fry until it forms pieces, add a small amount of salt, sprinkle with chopped scallions, and it is ready to be taken out of the pan and plated.

Okra scrambled with eggs is low in fat and low in sugar, so it can be used as a weight-loss food. It has a high zinc content, which can enhance the human body's anticancer ability and help prevent the occurrence of cardiovascular disease.

3. Okra stir-fried with meat

Ingredients: okra, pork, light soy sauce, cooking wine, salt.

1. After washing the okra, put it into boiling water in a pot, blanch for two minutes, then remove.

2. After blanching, the okra turns green; cut it into small sections and set aside.

3. Slice the pork, heat oil in a pan, and after the oil is hot, add the pork, add cooking wine and stir-fry until the surface changes color, then scoop out the stir-fried pork and set it aside.

4. Heat oil in the pan again, add the okra and stir-fry, add the stir-fried pork, add light soy sauce and salt, and stir-fry evenly.

2. How should okra be fertilized when growing it?

1. Base fertilizer

Base fertilizer is also called bottom fertilizer. Generally, base fertilizer is applied well when the land is prepared. Base fertilizer plays the most basic role in okra's growth process, that is, it gives the soil the most basic nutrients suitable for okra growth, so that okra can take root and sprout. Generally, to plant one mu of okra we need 100 kg of farmyard manure plus 100 kg of plant ash and 50 kg of compound fertilizer as well as 50 kg of nitrogen fertilizer, evenly scattered over the field.

2. Full-stand fertilizer

Full-stand fertilizer is generally applied when seedlings have grown after sowing. Because seeds germinate at different speeds, the field looks very uneven, with a bumpy appearance, making it look somewhat stunted. So generally the first topdressing is carried out three days after emergence. This fertilization is mainly to make the seedlings look uniformly neat. We usually use urea to promote the growth of okra seedlings, requiring about 100 kg of urea per mu on average, applied by spraying.

3. Seedling-promoting fertilizer

Seedling-promoting fertilizer can only be applied about ten days after transplanting. Because at transplanting time some okra is transplanted, it still needs to adapt to the new plot and grow new roots so that it can survive. So we fertilize for two purposes: first, to improve the survival rate of okra; second, to shorten okra's growth time, promote its growth speed, make the okra seedlings grow faster, and enable them to flower and bear fruit earlier. For seedling-promoting fertilizer we generally use compound fertilizer, requiring about 250 kg per mu on average, mainly scattered within 5 cm of the okra roots, and at the same time it needs to be covered with soil to avoid loss of fertility.

4. Flower and fruit fertilizer

Flower and fruit fertilizer, as the name suggests, is a fertilization carried out during the period when okra is flowering and fruiting. The purpose of fertilizing is to provide sufficient nutrients for okra, and at the same time it can play a role in promoting flowers and protecting fruit. The amount required for this topdressing is somewhat large, more than ten times the usual topdressing amount. Flower and fruit fertilizer is mainly applied by irrigating with human excreta and urine water, supplemented by nitrogen fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer, potassium fertilizer and compound fertilizer. Human excreta and urine water requires 4,000 kg, and nitrogen fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer, potassium fertilizer and compound fertilizer total 400 kg, mixed and scattered in the field.

5. Maintenance fertilizer

Maintenance fertilizer is generally the fertilizer applied after okra is harvested. Under normal circumstances, after each harvest a moderate amount of fertilizer needs to be applied once to prevent the plant from aging. If the plant ages, that means the harvest that could originally be done five or six times is gone after only two or three harvests, and the yield is severely reduced. Maintenance fertilizer is generally just applying an appropriate amount of potassium fertilizer or phosphate fertilizer.