Student food blog: Corn Fritters

If our flat was a country, its national dish would be corn fritters. We could eat corn fritters every night if we wanted and never ever get tired of them. I have made them so many times that I can whip up the mixture for a batch in under a minute (including sprinting out to the garden to get herbs). We even bought a second frying pan for the sole purpose of being able to cook more of them at once. The original recipe came from Annabel Langbein's book Great Food for Busy Lives and since then it has been permanently etched into my brain.

Based on extensive calculations, I can tell you that it costs about $2 to make approximately nine corn fritters. You can even make them for lunch as an alternative to eggs on toast. They are perfect for exam time when you need a quick but tasty dinner option that doesn't consist of two-minute noodles and toast. We always keep a stash of tinned corn for emergencies arising from a lack of enthusiasm for cooking dinner.

The original recipe calls for self-raising flour but it is always more convenient to make my own (1 cup plain flour + 2 tsp baking powder) than to buy a separate bag of flour. This recipe also uses soda water. This can be substituted with milk but a cheap bottle costs less than $1 and you can leave it in the fridge for ages. That's what we do. It doesn't go too flat.

Once again, you can add things depending on the day of the study-link week. I like to put some crumbled feta cheese through a mixture so when they are cooked the feta just melts in your mouth.

I also like adding chopped herbs to give colour to the batter. I usually add both Italian and curled parsley because both are always growing in our herb garden here at the flat. If I have a small pot of fresh coriander sitting on the windowsill, I'll add that too. Basil also works excellently. However, basil plants aren't too keen on living in Dunedin herb gardens at this time of year.

Let's do this shall we?

Corn fritters
(Adapted from Annabel Langbein's Great Food for Busy Lives)
makes about 9 fritters

1 can whole corn kernels in brine, drained
1 cup plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ cup soda water
2 large eggs
salt and pepper
chopped herbs, crumbled feta, grated cheese (optional)

Start heating an oiled frying pan on a medium-high setting. Sieve together your baking powder and flour. Whisk in the eggs and soda water. Mix in the salt, pepper and drained corn. Add whatever else you want in them. Check that your pan is hot (drop in a few drops of water and if they sizzle instantly it is hot enough). Using a dessertspoon, spoon out your fritters onto your pan. Once the first side is browned, flip them over and cook the other side. Sometimes the outside can cook too quickly and burn if the pan is too hot. Just monitor it and turn the heat down a wee bit if that happens.

Serve your fritters with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce as well as a nice salad and hey presto!, you have dinner/or lunch/or a snack.

So there you have it, delicious, delicious corn fritters.

TTFN,

Sophie