Sweetcorn & Zucchini Fritters

Fresh corn is in abundance at the moment and it occurred to me that I have never done a post on my blog about this ancient grain which has been around since 2500BC in Mexico.

In fact, fresh sweetcorn is the unripe fruit of the corn crop – and eaten as a vegetable! It is bred to be very sweet and full of water to make it juicy; whereupon, as it matures, the sugar turns to starch and the kernels dry out. But not all corn is the same. There are 100’s of breeds, bred for different applications depending on their starch content. Of the major types of corn, there are dent & flint corn: mature and starchier corns to produce meal. Pod corn and maize to produce flour; popcorn to produce popcorn*; and sweetcorn, a high sugar and low starch corn to be eaten unripe as a vegetable. Corn varies in colour from black, bluish-grey, purple, red, white and yellow. When ground into flour, maize yields more flour than wheat does, but it lacks the protein gluten, so it makes baked goods with poor rising capability when used on its own.

I haven’t eaten a lot of corn over the years. Not because I don’t like it but because I find it very sweet as a vegetable, more so over the last few years, with modern hybrid cultivars. When I have visited Asia in the past, I was always struck by the hot sweetcorn sundaes and creamed sweetcorn puffs from the local fast food outlets. Indeed, the Thais and Japanese see sweetcorn as a fruit rather than a vegetable! In Mexican cuisine, corn features in virtually every dish in the form of grain, flour or meal. There is even a fungus of maize, known as corn smut which is considered a delicacy!

Nutritionally, corn is a good source of B vitamins and folate. It has good dietary fibre, but has a high sugar content, which it is bred for too of course, in the form of high fructose corn syrup. Did you know that a large ear of corn has up to 600 kernels on it?!

Corn fritters are all the rage on the breakfast menu scene here in Brisbane and often I am disappointed… Usually because they are not gluten-free, and if they are, they are generally doughy and heavy.  My version is light and fluffy with the aid of a sneaky zucchini thrown in, and the addition of a little Swiss cheese gives them a lovely nutty flavour.

They make a great breakfast accompaniment to a freshly poached egg, or even a quick and easy Sunday dinner, served with a little tomato relish. This recipe makes 6 good size fritters which feeds 2 so double the recipe if you are feeding 4.

1 fresh cob of corn, shucked of kernels**

1 medium zucchini, chopped

1 spring onion (or a handful of chives)

1 small kale leaf, chopped

3 tabs GF flour

1 teas baking powder

1 tab coconut flour

2 eggs

30g – 50g Swiss cheese (or cheddar)

1 teas nutritional yeast flakes

salt & pepper

40g butter to fry

Mince the chives and kale on SP 9 for 3 seconds. Add the corn, zucchini and cheese and pulse until finely chopped but not pureed. Add the eggs, flours, baking powder and yeast flakes with a generous seasoning of salt & pepper and mix on REVERSE for 5 seconds on SP 5. Let stand for a few minutes while you melt the butter in a large frying pan.

Saute ¼ cup dollops of batter on a medium heat until brown and then turn over and lower the heat. Cook until they are brown and cooked through, then serve.

*Out of hundreds of breeds & cross cultivars.

**Don’t waste the silk – chop that up and chuck that in too!