Thai Corn Fritters

The first time I had these fritters was in the mid 80's at the legendary Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Unfortunately, at that time, I was not that interested in cooking Thai food at home so I never gave them a second thought. Living in New York at the time, if I wanted Thai food all I had to do was get in a cab.

Years later, living in Miami, I saw a fabulous cookbook at Costco called, The Ultimate Thai and Asian Cookbook, by Deh-Ta Hsiung, Becky Johnson and Sallie Morris. It had the most wonderful Asian recipes with pictures to match and on the second page I opened, there they were.

Now whatever else you may hear, Miami is not a place for good Thai food or any other kind of Asian cooking. I finally had to break down, purchase a wok and several Asian cookbooks and learn by trial and error.

These fritters are really very easy to make. I tried them on my bridge group one night and they flew off the plate, along with plenty of wine to chase them down! They are terrific with cocktails but they are hot, as in spicy hot, so be warned. If you do not like hot food, cut back on the chilli pepper. I wouldn't, particularly if you serve them for cocktails. Now that the fresh corn is coming in take advantage of it, particularly if you have some left over corn on the cob from dinner.

For those of you who like to eat and cook Asian food, I highly recommend this book. The only problem is its weight. It is the heaviest book I have ever carried in my life, but it's worth every pound of it.


Ingredients:

3 corn cobs

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 red or green chili, finely chopped

1 scallion, finely chopped

1 small bunch cilantro (aka coriander), finely chopped

1 tablespoon soy sauce

3/4 cup rice flour or plain flour

2 eggs

4 tablespoons water

salt and pepper, to taste

oil, for frying

Sweet Chili Sauce or
Sweet & Sour Dipping Sauce



Directions


Using a sharp knife, slice the kernels from the cob and place in large bowl. Add all the other ingredients, except the oil and Chili Sauce. Stir well to mix thoroughly. The batter should be firm enough to hold its shape, but not stiff.

In a large skillet, heat oil for shallow frying, about 1/2″ deep. Add spoonfuls of corn batter. spreading out with back of spoon to make a roundish fritter. Cook about 2 minutes on each side until cooked thoroughly and golden brown. If the fritters begin to brown too much before they are cooked, lower the flame.

Drain on kitchen paper and keep hot while frying more fritters

Serve hot with Sweet Chili Sauce or Sweet & Sour Dipping Sauce which can be bought at the supermarket or a Chinese food store.