Corn pancakes

A fast and easy lunch, and fairly adaptable.

I love corn fritters but sometimes find traditional ones with whole kernels in a flour batter a little stodgy. These are inspired by Isa Chandra Moskowitz's "Fresh Corn Johnnycakes", which are also awesome.

Corn pancakes


1 can sweetcorn kernels
Flour/ finely ground polenta (or a mixture)
1 tsp baking powder
salt
dash of vinegar
seasonings (optional - I like herb salt and paprika)
finely chopped spring onions

(optional add-ins: grated zucchini, fresh coriander)

Preheat a cast iron frying pan (or other reliable non-stick frying pan) on medium.

Dump the sweetcorn in a bowl and whizz for a few seconds with a stick blender so that some of the corn is mashed.

Add spring onions if using, seasonings and salt, vinegar and baking powder and stir thoroughly.

Add enough flour/polenta to glue it all together and adjust with water as necessary to make a scoopable batter. The thicker the batter, the thicker the cakes, I like mine on the relatively thin side.

Add a neutral vegetable oil to the pan. Scoop batter into frying pan to make fritter-sized pancakes and fry on each side until crispy.

Toppings

My favourite is layering the pancakes with a bed of rocket or spinach, topped with sliced avocado and red capsicum or tomato, drenched in a smoky chipotle salsa.

A more Kiwi topping would be vegan sour cream and sweet chili sauce.

Guacamole

People put all kinds of things in their guacamole. My mum puts fresh basil and tomatoes in. I've heard that certain Central American countries put celery in. I like it with lots of garlic and lemon juice. But this is just a quick note to say that the other day we accidentally chucked a whole bunch of dried sage into our guac instead of black pepper. And actually, it was very tasty. Something to try if you want something savoury and unusual. I think we ate it with some kind of Oaxacan mole. That is all.

Better than my local Chinese restaurant

One thing I really miss about Wellington is the food. As my Mum says, New Zealand is really starting to wake up to the fact that it is a multicultural Asia-Pacific nation, rather than little England 30 years behind the "motherland". In Wellington you can get delicious Asian food that actually bears some resemblance to the stuff you get in different parts of China, or Vietnam, or Japan, or Malaysia, etc. Sometimes you get fun fusion foods that make the best of local ingredients. In Sweden, the Chinese food I've tried hardly deserves to be called food, much less Chinese. So I've started learning to cook my favourite Asian food myself - sometimes with heavy moderations based on what ingredients I can find/afford - but often I'm pretty impressed with the result.

Yesterday we had Isa's fabulous Mango Fried Rice, with a side of salt and pepper tofu because we were out of nuts. Varied the veg a bit too - carrots, cabbage and zucchini chopped small, and some mung bean sprouts. All good.


Southeast-Asian lunch

On the weekend I had a group of friends over, and we made Vietnamese summer rolls (example) - a favourite in my family. I was trying to make the most of the final days of warmish weather before rainy autumn sets in. I also like how summer rolls are interactive - like tacos - you just put out little bowls of different ingredients and a bowl of warm water in the centre for softening the wrappers, and people can construct their own. (In Vietnam they even have a chain restaurant called Wrap and Roll).

Summer rolls

(gluten-free if using tamari instead of soya sauce)

What I put in mine usually depends on what I have on hand, but I usually make a base of
- mung bean or rice vermicelli noodles (lightly seasoned with sesame oil so that they don't clump together)
 
Then add:
- grated carrot tossed with some lime juice to prevent browning
- mung bean sprouts
- finely chopped roasted peanuts
- fresh herbs (at least one of mint, coriander, thai basil).

Other good vege accompaniments are:
- thin staves of cucumber and/or capsicum
- avocado

For protein you can either upp the peanuts, or add some marinated tofu, tempeh or soy/wheat meat.
I like this marinade.

For dipping sauce I usually just mix soya sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, chilli flakes and a little sugar together.

Coconut Agar

For dessert I made coconut agar jellies based on this recipe (using soy milk instead of cow) from the wonderful Shesimmers. I separated the coconut mixture into two loaf tins, and only made half of the coffee mixture which I layered with the coconut in one tin. For the other, I blended the flesh of a mango and a little sugar with some soy milk and then followed the same procedure with the agar-agar. Both were delicious, and even better the next day, for some reason. They weren't quite like the coconut agar I'm used to having at Chinese yum char restaurants in Wellington (the recipe was for Thai jellies), which are more coconutty and don't have the other layers. Next time I might try going all coconut and put in some dessicated coconut soaked in coconut milk (as per my genius Mum's suggestion).

The jellies were very pretty when cut into diamond shapes or hearts and stars using biscuit cutters. We ate them with fresh berries supplied by one of my lovely guests, which set off the tastes and colours beautifully.

Nachos

We don't have nachos often, but these are excellent for a quick heartening dinner for a cold rainy Monday night. These were kind of improvised, but turned out so delicious that it was hard to stop eating them. This makes enough to feed a crowd, like 6-8 hungry people.

For the bean stew:

- 2 cans kidney beans, drained
- 2 cans chopped tomatoes
- 1 can refried black beans
- 2 ribs celery, chopped thinly
- one big onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tsp paprika (smoked preferably)
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp sugar (if desired)
- chilli flakes (if desired)
- 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Fry the onion and celery till soft, add garlic, paprika, cumin, coriander and chilli and a little salt. Fry a minute more. Add beans, tomatoes, and yeast and cook until thick and reduced (about 10 mins). I like to add a little sugar with the tomatoes, but it's up to you.

Serve with any or all of the following:

- nacho chips (or tortillas or rice)
- guacamole (however you like it! I like mashed avocado with crushed garlic, lemon juice, fresh coriander, salt, and some finely sliced jalapenos.)
- Isa's divine queso sauce (which I adore as a quesadilla filling for leftover tortillas or a cheezy accompaniment to the bean stew)
- sliced red onion
- sliced roasted red peppers
- sliced jalapenos