Corn

[Suvir Saran]

What is your favorite way of using corn?

Are there any particular recipe you use?

Where is it from?

[Jinmyo]

I have nothing to add here except I think this is an interesting topic.

[Suvir Saran]

And what makes it interesting to you Jinmyo? I love your posts...

Why does this seem of interest to you?  

Do you like corn?

Do you use it in other ways ( I mean non Indian)... what are  they?

[Jinmyo]

I use corn in American Southwestern style dishes with ancho and other such chiles. Corn reaches about my tolerance for sweetness and goes well with chiles. So of course it can have many applications with Indian chiles but I had never really thought about it.

Suvir, what spices or seasonings (other than chiles) would you use with corn?

How commonly is corn used in Indian cuisines?

[Suvir Saran]

In the summer I remember coming back from school and waiting anxiously for the sun to get ready to set and my father to come back from work.  As his car was turning around the corner from our street Baba (My grandfathers Man-Friday who my mon called her father-in-law, since after my grandfathers demise, Baba was the eldest male in the house.  And since he was my Grandfathers jeev, he felt he could boss any and everyone at home) and I would be choosing 4 ears of corn that we would then get roasted on coal and rubbed with a spice powder and lemon juice.  By the time we came back home.. a few minutes after my father, he was changed into his jammies and he and I would enjoy our two ears of corn each.

Spice roasted corn on the cob is delicious, simple and rustic.  In San Francisco I have had it at some Mexican restaurants.  The Indian version has an addition of chaat masala to the Mexican mix of chili powder and salt and pepper with lemon juice.  I remember our lips getting all numb with the heat and intensity of the spices but our greed for the corn would not cease.  I make this quick corn recipe all through the summer and it is a huge success.  People love the fact that there is very little preparation and it can be made on the stove top over the flame.

We call corn Bhutta in hindi.  It is also called Makai.

Recipe Sabut Bhutta (Corn On The Cob)

Corn can be made into many different curries and all kinds of curry sauces go very well with Corn.  We cook the corn on the cobs whole in the sauces or just the kernels.  Depending on the mood of  the chef and also the kind of party.  

People make pilafs with corn on the cobs.  Very tasty as well.

[Suvir Saran]

Jinmyo I have attached link for one recipe for Corn.

Corn is quite commonly used in India.  Also it is loved in India.  My sister loves a corn curry I make.  In that I use mustard seeds, curry leaves, ginger and red chilies.  I cook the curry with buttermilk and add the kernels alone.  We eat that with plain rice.  I add a lot of chilies and the sweetness of the corn is perfect with the heat of extra chili powder.

This last trip to India I ate a few versions of baby corn.  One was simply steamed baby corn rubbed with lemon and some chili powder.  Another a pan fried version of baby corn with red chili powder and lime juice and third a deep fried version where the baby corn had been dipped in a batter of rice flour and chaat masala and then fried.  Each version was sensational.  Made for great finger foods.

[Jinmyo]

Ah, very very nice idea. It would go very well with chicken thighs grilled with a cumin seed rub and naan grilled as well. A lime chutney would be nice as well, I think.

[Suvir Saran]

Jinmyo I make a pickle of limes, ginger and green chilies that goes very well with this.  It is a great pickle for the summer.  Lots of lime juice and some sugar and red chili powder and crushed carom seeds are the spices.

[Jinmyo]

Very nice. Lime is tremendous.

What place does lime and other citrus have in Indian cuisine? Howrecent? How traditional? Perhaps a new thread?

[Suvir Saran]

I have eaten many variations of corn curries in Bombay where it is prepared in many Gujerati homes.  Since many Gujeratis are vegetarian, they are experts at preparing vegetables of all kinds.

Gujeratis are people from the state of Gujarat.  The state where Mahatma Gandhi hailed from.

Also the state which has had much press lately due to the communal riots that seem not to be ending.

[ajay]

Has anyone noticed any differences between the corn one encounters here in the states and that found in India.  

I feel the corn I get in season is much sweeter and less fiberous than the corn we used to find in Bombay.  I greatly enjoy roasted corn with chaat masala (and lime), but sometimes I feel that the combination doesn't work quite as well with the sweeter corn.  I normally prefer to eat it boiled.

Somehow, I've never been too pleased with my experiences with corn curry, though our family sticks to one preparation.  Perhaps we'll try recipes posted on this board during this season.

[jhlurie]

Has anyone noticed any differences between the corn one encounters here in the states and that found in India.  

I feel the corn I get in season is much sweeter and less fiberous than the corn we used to find in Bombay.  I greatly enjoy roasted corn with chaat masala (and lime), but sometimes I feel that the combination doesn't work quite as well with the sweeter corn.  I normally prefer to eat it boiled.

Somehow, I've never been too pleased with my experiences with corn curry, though our family sticks to one preparation.  Perhaps we'll try recipes posted on this board during this season.

Corn is a "new world" ingredient, so it makes some amount of sense to suppose that the types of corn available in India originally came from here.  Then again, that doesn't mean that it's a type of corn most commonly used here.  The corn most readily available in U.S markets has been further bred towards sweetness, and tenderness, and the rougher types of corn are reserved for other uses (animal feed, corn starch, corn flour, etc.)

As you say, the other types of corn have certain advantages.  It's just that the U.S. market always assumes certain preferences ("sweeter is better", for example) and tends to stick with it.

I'm sure that a better variety of corn is available through organic markets and channels if the resulting difference in the dish is really that great.

[Suvir Saran]

Yes corn in India was not the best when I was a young boy.  Was it bad this trip?  Not at all.  In fact they are now getting American corn and they like in America are able to grow special corn that keeps fresher longer and is sweeter.  So things have changed.

I love the contrast between the fiery chaat masala and cayenne and lemon on the roasted corn.  As my students have learned to appreciate, this dish is a great way of getting ones palate accustomed to hot foods and to feel how our lips, mouths, tongues, throats and gut handle spices.  

Check the link for the recipe.  Make it and see what you think.  Of course the more spices you use in the rub  the tastier it is and more kick it has.  It is addictive.

Corn curries are divine.  As I test recipes for my cook book, I have had some French food snobs stop me and tell me how impressed they were with Indian cooking and they could not understand how subtle and wonderful corn can be.  So there is hope in my book for corn and curry.  Keep playing with it.

I love American corn.  My friend Ed Schoenfeld, a foodie, chef, Chinese food expert and restaurateur made his famous corn souffle for me this last Tuesday.  It was as close to Nirvaana as I can ever get eating food.  Nothing like American corn. Nothing like this pudding.   Ed's corn souffle recipe was featured in the NY Times Sunday Magazine 5 or 6 years ago with some other recipes from him.  I never thought I would love a pudding as a savory dish.. but this one... leaves nothing to be desired.  It has it all.. texture, taste, sophistication and finesse.  And it is all American.  I am told that it is a southern style dish.

[Suvir Saran]

And how can I forget.. my Nani (maternal grandmother) who lives in San Francisco makes the best Corn Bread and Corn muffins.  She adds hot thai peppers, cilantro and some toasted cumin to the traditional recipe.  They are scrumptious and deeply addictive.  

She is my inspiration for many things and I hope that at 80 plus I too can cook 3 meals a day.

[Suvir Saran]

Ajay what recipe of corn curry does your family stick too?  Care to share... Must be something wonderful for sure.. since you are not a fan of too many of them you say.

What is special about  this one?  Where is it from?

Now I want more corn curry.  What we ate this evening is all finished... I am ready for more... at this late hour no less.