Aromatic sweetcorn fritters
Lime leaves, like curry leaves, are one of those aromatics that could plausibly be deployed as a Babel Fish style proof for the non-existence of god.
Nibble just a scrap and your senses fill with perfumed citrus. Limes, lemongrass, a hint of rose water, some soft sweetness. They’re a gorgeous delicate miracle of nature.
Let’s fry the shit out of them.
Ingredients:
Sweet corn, 1x 260g can
Flour, 75g
Ground coriander, 1tsp
Cayenne, 1/4tsp
Salt, 1/4tsp
Fresh basil, 15g or so
Spring onions, 3
Lime leaves, 1 small? See note
Eggs, 2
Lime leaves - “one leaf” isn’t a super helpful quantity I know. Unfortunately I don’t have the kind of precision scales beloved of kitchen TechBros and narcotics enthusiasts. A single one about the size of a 5cm pastry cutter was nice and pungent. Sorry - that’s all I got.
These would probably bind with one fewer egg, or substituting a batter of water and gram flour if you fancied vegan. As it is they're pleasingly only just this side of stodgy; a kind of pot pourri okonomiyaki. Howbeit decidedly less crunchy.
Instructions:
Slice the spring onions and herbs very fine. Mix the salt, cayenne, and coriander with the flour. Drain the sweetcorn.
Beat the eggs and slowly work in the spiced flour to make a thick batter.
Stir in the spring onions, sweetcorn, and herbs.
Put plenty of oil in a frying pan and bring it up to a fairly high heat.
Heat the oven to 150c
Add the fritter mix in big spoonfuls, leaving them reasonably widely spaced.
Just kind of dollop it in - don’t worry about elegance. They firm up fast but if they’re not super even you can add a bit on top. It’ll all come good.
Fry for about 3 mins on each side. You'll likely need to do this in batches, so remove them to the oven once they're done.
Once they're all fried, leave them in the oven for 5 mins or so, just to ensure the last batch are completely done, and then serve.
These make a great starter with some of that alarmingly moreish sweet chilli dipping sauce, or go as a great accompaniment to a simple bit of meat or fish. I last served them with thick slices of leftover roast ham. Try them with pork chops or some grilled salmon. For a bit of sauce, take the coconut thoran from p92 of Fresh India and bastardise it into a kind of salsa.
Ok sorry - that's a bit "now draw the rest of the fucking owl".
So: rehydrate about 40g of desiccated coconut, seed and rough-chop 3-ish ripe tomatoes, finely dice half a small red onion, do the same with half a red pepper if you want to bulk it out, and mix it all together with 1tbsp of lime juice, a drizzle of olive oil, a splash of the coconut liquor, and a bit of salt and chilli powder.
This also makes an acceptable bruschetta topping.