Thursday, April 22, 2010

Thai-Style Corn Pancakes

Corn Pancakes, Thai Style

Every time I pick up my copy of How to Eat Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman, I think "I should cook from this more often." When we moved into our new house a few weeks ago, I randomly grabbed it from the apartment to bring over, and for awhile it was the only cookbook here. I have about a million recipes marked with little post-it notes and this was one of them. I randomly opened the book to this page last week and decided to make them as soon as possible, which happened to be today for lunch.

They were a fantastic light lunch and would be great paired with a fresh, green salad. The Thai influence from the soy sauce and chilies was fairly subtle and I found serving them with a drizzle of soy sauce on top brought the flavors out. Bittman also recommends serving them with a fresh tomato or tomatillo salsa, cilantro pesto, or even maple syrup (although I'm not sure if that is a combination that I would like). They came together quickly and I definitely plan on making them again.

Corn Pancakes, Thai Style

Thai-Style Corn Pancakes
Adapted from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian"

2 eggs, separated,
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped scallions (I didn't have any on hand so I used yellow onion)
1 tsp minced fresh chile, cayenne, or hot red pepper flakes to taste (I used 1 jalapeƱo)
2 cups corn, fresh from the cob or thawed frozen
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3-4 tbsp butter or oil (I used peanut oil)

Corn Pancakes, Thai Style

In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks, salt, black pepper (about 1/2 tsp), scallions, chile, corn, soy sauce, and flour.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold into the corn mixture.

Corn Pancakes, Thai Style

Heat the butter or oil on a large skillet over medium-high heat. Spoon dollops of the batter on the skillet and cook until nicely browned on one side. (I cooked 3 at a time, the first batch took 4 minutes to brown and the rest were done much quicker). Flip and brown the other side. Serve immediately.

Makes 10-12 small pancakes.

9 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness those look absolutely amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. These look great - little healthy corn fritters! During the short time that I worked at the Cheesecake Factory (it wasn't short enough!) they came out with these little corn fritters that were like heaven. They had this sweet dipping aoli to go with them and they were sinful (really, they probably were...that place was NOT healthy). This looks like a great alternative! Thanks for the recipe. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love this kind of thing. I have a pancake with corn in it on my blog. If people only knew how many times I made that recipe last summer. WIth fresh veggies, everything becomes outstanding. I bet your pnacakes would be so good with some fresh corn.

    ReplyDelete
  4. These look so incredibly awesome! I've been debating getting this cookbook but I'm scared it will be of those giant tomes and I won't find a ton of recipes I want to make. I really should check the book out at the bookstore or something. Love your photos!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I definitely recommend the book! If nothing else, it is a great reference. The fruit/vegetable section tells how to store, cook, slice, etc. anything and also what you can substitute. The grains section is my other favorite. It tells you everything you need to know about every grain I've heard of and some I haven't/ I'll admit I haven't made a ton of recipes from it yet, but everything so far has been delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am off to make these. They look great. I have lots of corn fritter recipes but these are a lot classier, if food can be classy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for posting this recipe - I lost my Bittman book in the move so I keep coming to your page now! my findings so far:
    - I make these on the griddle to do an oil-free version and they taste great
    - they are wonderful with a mango-habenero chutney on top!
    - onions are a fine sub for green onion
    - these also work well with red bell pepper (I want to try with other veggies too!)
    - can easily make gluten free using gluten-free flour

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Lillian- Haha, glad to help! Thanks for all the tips!

    ReplyDelete