Cheesy Corn Balls

We were planning a short trip and I was clearing my refrigerator’s vegetable tray. For the past two days, I have been adjusting the meals with whatever vegetables I had plus using some lentils. There was one whole corn which I had bought few days back thinking that I shall use it in some salad, but somehow forgot. Also there was a piece of pumpkin lying around. I decided to make a puree of the pumpkin andfreeze it, so that I can use it later when I am back from the trip.

Now coming to the whole corn… I have been thinking of making cheesy corn balls since quite some time. But as I always say, I hesitate to deep fry stuffs. But some things has to be fried to get the exact texture and crispiness. So it was decided to transform this lone corn into some delicious snack when Neha will be back from school.

Shallow fried cutlets and kebabs are easier, since there is no threat of it bursting or breaking, since we are not deep frying them. But while we are frying such corn balls, if the texture is too moist or loose, it will disintegrate while frying or if it’s too dry, then they are chances of it being too hard. So it has to be exact. It’s better to refrigerate them for some time after shaping and then frying them immediately without thawing. Also it’s preferable to use mozzarella cheese or processed cheese. I have used cheddar since I didn’t have mozzarella or processed.

You can adjust the binding so that these balls comes out perfect. The amount of binding will depend on the moisture content in the corn. Also be careful while frying. Some of the uncrushed corn kernels might burst while frying. Click here for a recipe of corn-cheese sandwich. Moreover, you can use corn in salads, soups, as a filling or topping in pizza, quiche and in various sabzis.

Ingredients:

• Corn 1 full
• Salt to taste
• Onion 1 small
• Red chili powder 1/2 tsp
• Pepper powder 1/2 tsp
• Oregano 1 tsp
• Grated cheese 3-4 tbsp
• Cornflour 1 tsp
• Bread crumbs 2-3 tbsp
• Refined oil to fry
• Spring onion greens 4-5 sprigs

Method:

• Remove the skin of the the corn and separate the kernels. Boil it in water for 5-8 minutes. Drain and keep aside.

• Chop it with a chopper or blitz it in a mixer till it’s coarse. Do not make a paste.

• Chop the onion and spring onion greens finely.
• In a big mixing bowl, add the onion, greens, mashed corn, salt, red chili powder, pepper powder and oregano.

• Add grated cheese to it. Now add a spoon of cornflour and bread crumbs and mix to form a dough.

• If the dough is too moist, add some more bread crumbs. If it’s too tight, sprinkle some water.
• Make small balls out of it and coat or with breadcrumbs.

• Allow these balls to rest for atleast half an hour inside the refrigerator.
• Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry these balls till they are golden in colour. Add one ball in the oil and check first. Be safe, some of the uncrushed corn might burst while frying.
• Serve it hot will any dip or sauce or chutney.

Notes:

• You may add garlic powder or crushed garlic too. For binding, boiled and mashed potato can also be used.
• My dough was soft and moist so it was easy to coat the balls with bread crumbs. If it’s dry, make a slurry of maida and cornflour with some water, dip the balls in it and then coat it with bread crumbs.
• Coriander leaves can be added in place of spring onion greens.
• You may choose to shallow fry these in a grill pan instead of deep frying them. In that case, make it little flat like a kebab or cutlet.
• You may use ready made corn to make these. It I prefer to buy whole corn and remove the kernels myself. Generally I steam it first and then separate out the kernels. But today I broke the corn into 2 pieces and then separated the kernels by hand. It was much easier than separating kernels from steamed corn.