Goodness is….

I had these recently at Rusha’s place in Devon where we spent our summer holiday.  We spent the afternoon at Strete Beach, a long coastal beach in Dartmouth, Devon.  In the late afternoon, we came back to Rusha’s place where we sat in her magical kitchen around a tiny, round table warmed by her Aga stove, listening to the pitter-patter of rain outside, sipping Rooibush tea while she prepared a meal for us.  It included these wonderful, sweetcorn pancakes.

This is what I wrote to a friend after that day

-

woke to a misty sort of day

dosa and sambar with lu  lu and rusha

at our place

then onwards to the beach

with its tiny coloured pebbles

zillions of them

racing dark clouds

freezing cold water

but they went swimming anyway

back to Rusha’s magical home

an amazing dinner prepared with love

colourful mix match of antique plates and forks

sweet corn and chard pancakes

babaganoush in a big, earthy bowl

roasted red pepper and melon sprinkled with red ruby jewels of pomegrenate

dessert strawberries and clotted cream sprinkled with sugar

-

sweet corn and chard pancakes

(serves four)

2 ears of fresh corn

1 cup of chickpea flour

3/4 cup of water

1/2 tspn ground coriander

1 tspn cumin seeds, lightly toasted

1/4 tspn turmeric powder

1/2 tspn sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

huge handful of spinach, kale or silverbeet (about 2 cups chopped)

handful of finely chopped coriander

olive oil/ghee for frying

Cut corn off the cobs until you have about 2 cups.

You can either purchase the chick pea flour already made, or make your own by putting about 1 and a 1/2 cups of dried chickpeas in your blender and grind on high for a few minutes until the flour stops falling into the middle of the container (you will understand this once you do it).  Pour the blender contents out into a fine mesh sieve and sift until fine gram and course legume bits are separated.  You should have less than one cup of fine chickpea flour – if not make more.

Heat a little ghee/oil in a small pan.  Add the cumin seeds and cook for a few seconds.  Remove from heat and set aside, or alternatively you can dry roast them.  Combine the chickpea flour with the coriander powder, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, sea salt and pepper.  Add water to make a smooth paste.   Allow to sit for five minutes to allow the flour to absorb the water.  Add the corn kernels and the finely chopped kale, spinach or silverbeet and mix until well incorporated.  Optional – take 1/2 cup of this batter and process it for 10 to 15 secs.  Transfer back to the bowl.  If it looks a little dry, add more water.  You can experiment with the texture while cooking.  I find if the mixture is quite moist, it handles better.

Heat a skillet and drizzle a little olive oil or ghee.  Add a heaped tablespoon of the mixture to the skillet and flatten slightly with a spoon.  Fry corn cakes until golden on one side, then flip to cook the other side.  It is important that the heat is high enough to create a good sizzle, without being too high that it cooks the outside, before the inside is ready.  Turn over and cook for a further 3 to 5 minutes. Remove and eat immediately.

Serve the pancakes topped with a little of this  salad and spicy guacomole or hummous.

Goodness shared from Stacey