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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Sweet Corn Recipes

When we were young, the sibling and me were totally predictable. At any Chinese restaurant, the first thing we would order was Sweet Corn Soup. My parents tried very hard to get us to taste other items "Arent you bored yet?" Nope, we wanted our bowls of soup - 1 by 2. Once I moved to the US and those cravings hit me .... you can see where this is going right? It snowed last night and I figured it was the perfect time to make a delicious bowl of hot, comforting, delicious Sweet Corn Chicken Soup. The recipe below is so quick and easy and the taste beats the Knorr soup packets hollow!

The second recipe is for a sweet corn dip, served canape style. You know, those finicky little appetizer things where rows of fried bread are laid out on a tray, topped with the dip and then decorated with some herbs. Totally delicious, too much work! The dip has always been a huge hit at parties so I take the easy way out and serve it with crackers or salted biscuits and let my guests assemble their own portions.

For both the recipes I use cans of cream-style corn (or creamed corn) available in the grocery stores. You see now why I invariably stock this item in my pantry. Love the stuff!! Try these recipes and you'll love it too ....

Sweet Corn (Chicken) Soup

1 can cream-style corn
garlic, finely chopped
ginger, finely chopped
2 spring onions, chopped, separate the white and green parts
french beans, thinly sliced
carrots, grated
celery, thinly sliced (optional)
chicken, boiled and shredded (optional)
1 can chicken stock/ vegetable stock/ water + couple of cups of water
1 tbsp. corn starch (optional)
2 green chillies, chopped fine
soy sauce
vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:
Add the chopped green chillies to a couple of tablespoons of vinegar and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pot. Immediately add the ginger and garlic. Fry, dont let them burn.

Add the whites of the spring onions and fry till they become soft. Add the rest of the veggies and let them cook till semi-soft.

Add the cream-style corn, stir well. Then add chicken, stock+water, salt, pepper, bring to a boil, then simmer for 5-10 minutes. The vegetables should finish cooking now. If you want, you can thicken the consistency of the soup by adding in the corn flour mixed with water.

Remove from heat and stir in the greens of the spring onions.

Serve with soy sauce and the chillies in vinegar for garnishing.

Sweet Corn Dip

1 can cream-style corn
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 spring onion, chopped, separate the white and green parts
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:
Heat some oil in a pan. Add the garlic and chillies and fry for some time. The cream-style corn is sweet so add more green chillies if your taste buds can handle them.

Add the whites of the spring onions. After they become soft, stir in the can of corn. Test the dip for seasoning adding salt and pepper to taste.

Remove from heat, stir in the greens of the spring onions.

Serving suggestions: Cut a slice of bread into 4 (or 6) pieces, deep fry. Arrange the fried bread on a plate. Top with the dip, then top with either a mix of onion+tomato+chopped coriander leaves or just finely chopped coriander leaves.

Alternatively, serve alongside your favorite crackers/ biscuits.

7 comments:

Ava said...

This is sweet n simple. I love sweet corn. corn is my favorite ! I like em roasted,steamed, even the corn roti (makki ki roti)

Bouncing-Bubble said...

good. will try the second one for sure. have never bought creamed corn. shd look out for it in my next visit to the supermkt!

btw my fave has always been cream of tomato soup with bread crumbs!

couchpapaya said...

avdi - hey had totally forgotten makki di roti, i love it too. if u know how to, cld u post recipes for the roti and sarson ka saag ?? pleaseeee???? :D

bubbles - i love tomato soup too, for me not the cream of tomato kinds but the one u get in the SI thalis in blore. have tried so often to figure out what their secret ingr. is, but still havnt got a perfect match yet !!!

Angel's Flight said...

I have quite a few fans of the sweet corn soup in my house

It is one of the most comforting soups out there :)

Ava said...

oh gosh.. makki di roti n sarson da saag. sure thing cp..

Smita said...

That is a quick recipe...

I hardly order a soup & usually have it when am forced to...not that I don't like them, somehow meri tummy full ho jati hai ;-)

BTW I too love corn...specially the boiled ones...

couchpapaya said...

angel - i agree, i make it so often in winter and most times will eat it as dinner too ... the other reason is that i'm lazy :P

smita - that is why we used to order 1 by 2 hehe