The danger with cornmeal, I find, is that about 95% of the things I’ve made with it have to be eaten on the day – and I seem to have no problem doing so. All by myself. From the putu pap (South African maize meal porridge) I grew up with to the NYC corn muffins that were the highlight of any trip Stateside, cornmeal would be a storecupboard staple of mine if its uses didn’t consistently push the limits of how much I can eat. It is inherently sweet and creamy, it practically demands copious amounts of butter, it loves both cheese and chilli, and it makes bakes with a kind of ballsy, “bring-it-on” texture. In other words, as ground grains go, it’s got it all.
The Guardian offices overlook a restaurant called Caravan, which might as well be called Cornbread with Chipotle Butter and Spring Onions, because that’s the only dish I think about when I look outside. Which isn’t to say this week’s winner was a mortal lock. In fact, I’m astonished anyone has come this close to matching the joy that is a Caravan side dish.
Cornmeal is maize ground to varying degrees – fine, medium, coarse. It comes in different colours too – white, yellow, blue … Polenta, as it sometimes called in the UK, is technically not the meal itself, but the Italian dish of boiled cornmeal. (Before the advent of corn from the Americas, polenta was made with other ground grains and pulses.)
The winning recipe: Cheese and jalapeño cornbread (pictured above)
This bake from kkirkNI has a dash of magic to it: the sweet heat of chilli jam, the perfection of melted strong cheddar, and copious amounts of soured cream and sweetened corn. Cut a slice as soon as it’s baked, then toast day-old slices and serve with butter.
Serves 8-12
120g coarse cornmeal
190g plain flour
100g caster sugar, plus 2 tbsp extra
1½ tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
½ tsp chilli powder or flakes
3 large eggs
240ml sour cream, plus 2 tbsp extra
175ml buttermilk
85g butter, melted, cooled slightly
3 tbsp flavourless oil
100g mature cheddar, grated
2 tbsp pickled jalapeño chillies, finely chopped
2 spring onions, sliced
1 Set the oven to 240C/475F/gas mark 9. Grease the sides of a 22cm springform cake tin or a large loaf tin with butter. Line the base with parchment.
2 Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together.
3 In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, then whisk in the sour cream, buttermilk, melted butter and oil. Whisk this into the dry ingredients.
4 Stir in the grated cheese, jalapeño chillies, and spring onion. Then pour the mix into the prepared tin.
5 Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 220C/425F/gas mark 7 for a further 20-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the bread comes out clean. If the top is getting too brown, loosely cover it with tin foil. You do want a darkish colour to give some crunch and texture, though.
Apricot, carrot and cornmeal cake with coconut lime icing
Cornmeal in a cake is best paired with something truly juicy. If you count the optional berries she tops hers with, Anna Thompson uses five fruits and one vegetable, which at first glance seemed slightly mad. As it turns out, this is a real rainbow of a treat. My household’s only objection was that the icing wasn’t 4cm deep like the sponge.
Serves 6-8
150g fine cornmeal
125g dried apricots, chopped
100ml orange juice
125g carrots, sliced and cooked
125g butter
2 tbsp maple syrup
90g rice flour
4 tsp baking powder
3 eggs, beaten
1 large orange, zested
½ tsp vanilla extract
For the icing
200g block of creamed coconut, grated
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1-2 tbsp apple juice concentrate, honey or maple syrup
To garnish
Fresh berries (such as raspberries and blueberries)
1 lime, zested
1 Set the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease and line an 18cm round cake tin. Cover the cornmeal with warm water for around 20 minutes, then leave to drain in a sieve.
2 Put the apricots in a pan with the orange juice and simmer until soft – about 10-15 minutes.
3 Mash together the cooked carrots, butter and apricots. Add the syrup, cornmeal, rice flour, baking powder, eggs, orange and vanilla, then blend to a smooth, dropping consistency.
4 Spoon into the tin, bake for 30-35 minutes until firm and golden. Leave for 10 minutes or so, then turn out of the tin to cool on a wire rack.
5 To make the icing, blitz the coconut, lime zest and juice, and apple concentrate until smooth. Ice the cake and decorate with berries or lime zest.
Cornmeal blueberry muffins
Cornmeal and blueberries: so simple, so sweet, just right. Thank you, Mikedow, for this perfect breakfast.
Makes 12
95g plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
150g cornmeal
1 egg
3 tbsp vegetable oil
160g maple syrup
120ml milk
200g blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Combine the mixes. Stir in the blueberries. Fill 12 paper muffin cups with the mixture, then bake at 200C/400F/gas mark 6 for 15 minutes.
Hush puppies
A toothsome southern snack from Rachel Kelly. Halfway between cornbread and croquetas, savoury and rich, they’re exactly what you want with a beer or a glass of red. The hot sauce – it goes without saying – is a must.
Serves 6-8
425g fine cornmeal
60g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tbsp ground black pepper
½ tsp salt
½ tbsp sugar
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp cayenne pepper
350ml buttermilk (or milk plus 1 tsp fresh lemon juice)
8 spring onions, finely chopped (both the white and green parts)
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Tartare sauce, to serve (I like mine with lots of gherkins)
Mild hot sauce, to serve (I use Crystal, but a mild Tabasco is nice too)
1 Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk and mix until combined. Stir in the chopped spring onions. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
2 Heat the vegetable oil in a deep-sided pan to 180C/350F. Drop several 1 tbsp-dollops of batter into the hot oil without overcrowding the pan. Cook for about 3 minutes, turning occasionally, or until golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
3 Serve with tartare and hot sauces.
Apple puffy
Receiving this recipe by email was a bit like stepping into Narnia with Lucy and Edmund. Constance Short’s introduction conjured a portal into an enchanted childhood place. “When we were children,” she wrote, “on Sundays after lunch we would go off for a long walk or climb a local hill. My mother would put on the Puffy (in a saucepan) at the back of the Aga (my grand-aunts used to make it in a skillet pot over an open fire) and when we came home we would each have a big plate of it with cups of tea. There were seven of us, so hers was three times this size.” I mean, obviously I was going to make it – wouldn’t you? The cornmeal here adds heft to the scone, making it perfectly suited to tea after an adventure.
Serves 4
3-4 cooking apples (enough to fill the bottom of a heavy-based saucepan), peeled and chopped
100-140g sugar
4 cloves or ½ tsp cinnamon
250ml water
For the scones
30g fine cornmeal
85-140ml buttermilk
225g plain flour
A pinch of salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
55g butter
1 egg, beaten
1 First, prepare the scone mix. Combine the cornmeal with 85ml of the buttermilk. Leave overnight to soften.
2 The next day, sieve together the flour, salt and bicarb. Rub the butter into the flour. Beat the egg and add it to the cornmeal, then mix this into the flour. Gather into a loose dough, adding extra buttermilk a little at a time, if necessary. Knead lightly for a minute. Roll or flatten out gently into a circle the size of your saucepan.
3 Put the apple in the saucepan, then scatter with sugar and spice. Cover with water. Top with the scone mix, about 7cm thick, like a lid. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and cook gently, for about an hour, until puffed up, the water has been absorbed and syrup oozes up the sides.
Aubergine fingers with honey and cornmeal
Fadime Tiskaya has a wonderful way with sweetness in savoury settings: these toothsome fritters use honey – in place of the more obvious beaten egg – to create their cornmeal crust, which amplifies the sweet notes in both the vegetable and the meal.
Serves 2
1 aubergine, cut into finger-size sticks
Boiling water
5 tbsp fine cornmeal
3 tbsp coarse cornmeal
Salt and black pepper
1½ tbsp paprika
3 tbsp runny honey or maple syrup
Sunflower oil, for deep frying
Coriander leaves, to serve
For the sauce
4 tbsp plain yoghurt
4 tbsp creme fraiche
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp ground walnuts
Salt, to taste
1 Blanche the aubergine pieces in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain, then run under cold water to stop them cooking further. Spread them over a kitchen towel to completely get rid of all the excess water.
2 Meanwhile, heat enough oil in a pan to deep fry the aubergines. Put the fine and coarse cornmeal on separate plates. Season the fine one with salt and pepper; then mix in the paprika evenly. Season the aubergine fingers and drizzle with the honey, gently mixing to ensure they are well coated. Dip the aubergine pieces into the fine cornmeal and coat well, then dip into the coarse cornmeal.
3 When the oil is hot, fry the aubergine fingers until they have turned golden brown. Transfer to kitchen paper.
4 For the dipping sauce, mix all the ingredients together and serve with the aubergine fingers.
