The Wonderful World of Color: Red Corn And Radish Sprout Salad With Peanut Chili Dressing

    
   When I was a kid I used to love watching Disney's Wonderful World of Color.



   It didn't matter that we never had a color TV, we used our imaginations, that and a piece of cellophane that fitted over the TV screen, the top part blue, the middle pink, and a strip of green along the bottom. Who were we fooling?

   My other experience of color had to do with painting at midnight with my mom. That's usually when she was "inspired" and it often involved  a can of lavender paint, and a spray can of gold. We'd get roused out of bed at 1 a.m. and  armed with brushes, paint, and clear plastic pop beads to help make the dining room chandelier "fancier" we'd attempt to turn our humble row house into Versailles. In the morning, I'd get up and don my navy and white Catholic school uniform and go off till  3 'o'clock when I'd return to Fran's Wonderful World of Color, which always ended with my father's big statue of Jesus in the back yard being spray-painted gold. And then white again. And then gold. I grew up hating bright colors. My answer to every painting question as an adult has bee, "paint it white." Until now that is. We've been renovating the house we just bought and we are now God help us, at the painting stage.

   I never knew there were so many paint colors! Every paint company has different names for the same colors, and not only are there a zillion names, there are also sheens. Who knew about sheens? Flat, matte, eggshell, satin, and so on and so forth. I always said that this house I was gonna take a chance with decor, this house I was gonna go big, go bold, take chances. That is until I got into a few paint stores. Immediately I was intimidated, battered into submission by the difference between Simply White, and Swiss Coffee, which by the way is a different color depending on who's making it. Oh yeah. Paint.  Who names this stuff anyway?  You think I like walking into a store and asking for a gallon of Kitten Whiskers and a pint of Inner Balance? It's too zen. By the way, Zen is also a color. Actually any random word salad is probably a color. Paranoid Pelican, Pond Scum, yeah those are probably colors too, I'll have to check my color wheel (not) which weighs about 5 pounds. With all the color madness surrounding me it's no wonder I was attracted to the red corn I found at the farmers market. Those delicate tones of pale eggshell, blended with the lightest cream, and just a touch of Kitten Whiskers. It was calling to me and so I bought some.

   I thought I'd use this colorful corn to try a variation of the roasted pepper salad I'd made a couple of weeks before. I'm trying to compile a group of easy recipes for back yard get-togethers  this summer, plus I've been pretty lazy with all the color picking, and I wondered if I could make this work. Let me tell you, it worked like a charm. It worked so well, there was a battle over the left overs. Plus, fast and easy is always a winner. The corn, mixed with the spicy radish sprouts, the crunch of the peanuts, and heat from the chilies is a great combo. This recipe will work with any color corn, but if you should run across red corn grab some up,  toss a few ears on the grill and get cooking.

Red Corn And Radish Sprout Salad With Peanut, Chili Dressing

 

Here's What You Need:

4 ears of corn
1  and 1/2 Tbs olive oil plus a bit extra to rub on the corn
1/2 cup of roasted unsalted ground peanuts
3 Tbs chopped fresh chervil
salt to taste
2 cups radish sprouts
1 1/2  tsp dried red chili flakes
2 Tbs lemon juice

Here's What To Do: 

Shuck and clean 4 ears of corn.

Rub the cleaned ears with a bit of olive oil.

Just lightly cover them.

Place the ears of corn on the grill and cook them until they are lightly roasted.

Meanwhile, place the cleaned radish sprouts in a bowl and set them aside.

Add the 1/2 cup of ground up roasted unsalted peanuts  to a small bowl.
Mix in 2 Tbs of lemon juice
1 and 1/2 Tbs of olive oil
Salt to taste
Add in the torn up 3 Tbs of chervil.

Add in 1 and 1/2 tsp of red chili flakes.

Mix everything together well. Set it aside.
Take the kernels off the ears of roasted corn.

Add the roasted corn kernels to the bowl of radish sprouts.

Mix everything together well.

 
Whisk in the peanut chili dressing.

Give it a good stir so that everything is covered, and serve it up!

   This salad can be served hot of cold. It's great as part of a vegetarian menu and also works well with any sort of grilled meat. I'm actually thinking of using this dish as a base for a salmon salad. Give it a whirl, if your family likes peanuts, and corn this could be a keeper. Coming up next, Avocados, and CocoaPlanet  Deep Dark Truffle Chocolate hook up for a Summer romance. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori


  

Lend me Your Ears. Corn and Coconut. The Perfect Pair. Who Knew?

   Corn is the Miss Popularity of the vegetable World. It seems to be the vegetable that no one rejects, even the pickiest eaters, even guys who don't "eat" vegetables, and I don't mean that in the ironic hipster sense. But speaking of hipsters, I once cooked dinner for a couple of hipster P.A.s. One guy warned me ahead of time he didn't eat vegetables so therefore I should only give him what he would eat. Meat.

   Surely I thought this wasn't possible. There had to be one freakin' vegetable this kid would eat. Some plant matter had to make its way into his digestive system besides beer nuts and Doritos. So I asked him if he ate corn. "Yeah, well corn isn't really a vegetable" I was told. Dude, unless you have to hunt it down and chase it to get it into your mouth, it's a vegetable. So, it turned out there was something green and growing that he'd eat. Corn. Busted.

   Corn is probably one of the easiest things in the world to cook. Fresh shucked, 2 minutes into boiling water and out. That's it. Of course there are more complicated ways of making corn, roasting, grilling, dry-rubbing with spices. All of them delicious. Almost every cuisine has a recipe for corn and Indian cuisine is no exception. One of the best is an Indian corn salad made with coconut. Easy, Fast perfect for Summer eating, it's another great make-ahead dish, and who doesn't want to take some of the pressure off cooking at this time of year.
 

Indian Corn and Coconut Salad

Here's What You Need:

6 fresh ears of corn
1 and 1/2 Tbs coconut oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut or dried grated unsweetened (fresh is best if you can get it)

Here's What To Do:

Shuck and wash the ears of corn.
Scrape the kernels off the cobs.

Take 1/2 of the kernels and grind them up in a blender. Do Not add any water.
Grind them up until they form a smooth batter.

Mix the ground corn in with the rest of the whole kernels.
In a skillet or kadhai heat the coconut oil.
When the oil is hot, add in the cumin seeds.
When the cumin seeds start to sizzle and turn color, add in the corn mixture and the turmeric.

Mix it together well.
Cover the pan, turn down the heat and cook the mixture for about 10 minutes or so. Stir it every now and them so nothing sticks.
After 10 minutes, take off the cover and add in the sugar, salt, ground cumin, cayenne and lemon juice.

Give everything a good stir, cover the pan again and cook for another 4 minutes or so.
Take the lid off, add in the coconut, give it a good stir and you're done. Serve this at room temperature.

 
   I served this corn as one of the dishes at an all vegan tasting menu at our house a couple of weeks ago. It works just as well with any backyard barbecue menu and is a great alternative to the usual grilled corn. Coming up next, smoke your eggplant and drizzle it with honey and spices. You'll be surprised at what a great dish you get. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori 

Meatless Monday...Take The Corn Off The Cob!

What should greet us this morning as we returned from our early morning coffee run to the Basque Boulangerie but a large turkey vulture sitting on the branch of a tree looking down at our house.

"Whoa!" I thought. What a kickoff to Meatless Monday. Whatever that big bird was looking for, he was not going to find it in my kitchen this afternoon.
 It was Meatless Monday at our house and the Vulture was out of luck.

  I love meatless Monday but it always hits me with a bit of a thud after the weekend.  Especially this last weekend and the big Lamb Biryani dinner I'd cooked. for Paula Wolfert. So, I wound up spending time thinking about vegetables last night. What was fresh, what was available and what I felt like eating.

 Not wanting Alan to be hungry, I thought three courses would do it. One hot, one cold and one room temperature. Two solids and a soup.

 I decided I'd try a great and easy-to-whip-up corn salad. Since today is Memorial Day and the kick off to the Summer Season, it only seemed fitting that I'd fix a salad that would go just as well on a Meatless Monday as on a Whole Hog Saturday.

 This is a traditional corn salad from the West coast of India. Here's what to do.

Cut the kernels off of 6 ears of corn. I used three white ears and three yellow ears for contrast.

 Take half of the kernels and place them in a blender. Grind them up and mix them back in with the rest of the raw corn kernels.

                          

In a large skillet or kadhai heat 2 Tbs of vegetable oil.

 When the oil is hot toss in:

 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds. As soon as they start to get fragrant and change color add in:

 1/8 tsp of turmeric powder 

 All the corn.

 Stir it around then put a lid on the pan  and cook for about 10 minutes or so. Check it once in a while and make sure the corn isn't sticking. If it does, add a few tablespoons of milk to keep things moving. 

 Take the lid off the pan and add in:

 1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of sugar

1/4 tsp of ground cumin

1/8 tsp of kashmiri chili powder (cayenne if you can't get it)

1/2 tsp of lemon juice

 Once again, stir it up over a low heat to make sure everything is blended in, then take if off the stove and mix in

 1/2 cup of grated unsweetened coconut.

 Set it aside and serve it at room temperature.

 I've gotta add that Alan loved this dish. So did I, and it's another winning salad that I'm going to be serving a lot this Summer.

 This Meatless Monday is really working out. Tomorrow...soup for you!