Sweet Corn Pancakes with Mango Salsa and Herbed Hung Curd

Sometimes you think of doing something and it just takes a long time to get done. That is what happened to my intention of trying this Chef Meriless Parker’s recipe. I wanted to make it now as it is mango season and this recipe calls for mangoes. I had the right kind of mango at home and the sweet corn and then the hunt for the spring onions began. Spring onions are more a winter thing...though we now get almost everything all round the year but it is abundantly available during season. Finally yesterday hubby bought me the spring onions I had been whining about and today the dish got made.

Now for the dish, people had mixed reactions to it. I would say it needs a refined palate to appreciate this interesting combination of flavours.

Here is the recipe, I have made a few subtle changes to the chef’s original recipe.

Ingredients

For The Cakes

¾ cup refined flour,

½ cup gram flour,

¼ tsp baking powder,

1 small egg,

Buttermilk as required,

100 grams sweet-corn kernels,

1 tbsp Maggi bhuna masala (optional),

½ tsp chilli flakes,

1 tbsp chopped green Jalapeno,

Greens from 2 spring onions, very finely chopped,

1 tbsp oil for frying

For the Hung Curd

¾ cup hung curd,

¼ tsp lemon zest,

½ tsp dill leaves

For the Mango Salsa

1 ripe, firm mango,

1 red onion, very finely chopped,

½ tsp red chilli flakes,

2 tbsp fresh pomegranate seeds,

2 spring onions, very finely sliced,

1 tsp lime juice,

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil,

Salt to taste,

½ tsp crushed black pepper

Method

Heat a non-stick pan and add the bhuna masala. Once it is heated through, toss in the sweet corn and stir well. If you are not using bhuna masala or you simply do not have it, heat some oil add some crushed black pepper and salt and toss in the sweet corn. Keep aside to cool.

Sieve the flour, gram flour and baking powder. Whisk the egg into about ¾ cup of buttermilk. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add the red chilli flakes, jalapeno, spring onions and the sweet corn kernels. Mix well and add more butter milk, if required to get a batter of pancake batter consistency. Add salt to taste and mix well to get a smooth batter.

Heat a non-stick pan and pour three ladlefuls of the batter to form three small pancakes. Cook for about two minutes and then flip over and cook for a further minute until cooked through. Prepare more pancakes in a similar fashion.

For the hung curd, mix together all the ingredients in a small bowl then put in the fridge to set a little.

Meanwhile make the mango salsa. Peel the mangoes and cut the flesh into small chunks. Place in a bowl with the red onion, chilli, spring onions, lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and set aside at room temperature to allow the flavours to combine.

To serve place a dollop of the hung curd mixture on a sweet corn pancake and top with some mango salsa and pomegranate seeds (I forgot to add this though I had them in my refrigerator :-(.