Corn fritter

This corn fritter is one of very few repertoires I had during my days (years, to be fair) as a single, unmarried woman, a period where people ask me, "Why don`t you cook??" and I answered, "Why should I cook and harm my self  if I can buy so much better food out there?". This fritter recipe, however, has evolved from something resulted by hunger and ignorance, to something too good to be kept only for me.

Fritters in Indonesia are usually made by grinding corn/boiled potato, turning it into small fist-like shapes and frying them. I, however, have excuse(s) to avoid the labor- and time-consuming process in some recipes. So, for corn fritters, I simply use canned corn as it is. My excuse this time is, " I love to have chunks in my fritters", which sounds quite convincing when I say it with a straight face. I hope you`re buying it too.

Alright, I`d like to start with garlic. If you can`t have garlic for whatever reason it is, just skip this step. But if you are okay with it, I`m begging you please, use it, always. Chop or mince garlic, fry, and set it aside. Always fry it first. Adding fried garlic into batter will make it smells much much better and more flavorful. I used raw garlic and garlic powder and the result came out totally different. So, try it!

Now, the batter. Beat one whole egg seasoned with salt, pepper, and coriander. Cayenne pepper too, if you want some heat.

 Throw in sweet corn and mix.

I wonder if you are familiar with this ingredient, but Japanese people call this "kanikama", short for "kani kamaboko". Kani is crab, and kamaboko is steamed fish cake. Fun fact: this kanikama doesn`t contain real crab meat, but such name is apparently for the resemblance with the crab meat`s shape and color. Yay for me since I`m allergic to crab! Anyway, this kanikama has a sweet savory taste (and you might think you are eating real crab!) and it`s a common ingredient for preparing salad in Japan. 

So, back to the fritters, chop the kanikama sticks and dump in the batter. If you can`t find kanikama, try tuna flakes, corned beef, or simply use corn only. I just love playing with ingredients.

Now, cilantro. Chop up and dump it into the batter. I love cilantro. My life has definitely been so much better with it. The smell..oh..the smell....

 Last, fried garlic. Dump it in too, and mix the batter until everything combines.

 Smells good, huh?

Flour, don`t forget the flour. Now this is tricky, for me. I don`t really measure how much flour exactly I need to make the fritter crispy. And sometimes I add corn starch too. Although today I only used flour and my fritters weren`t as crispy as I wanted them to be, they still taste good. I know this will sound very unhelpful, but you can try to find your own ratio of egg : flour : corn starch. And for a starter, just try this recipe first, sounds good?

Heat a frying pan drizzled with olive oil. I hate deep frying, by the way. Oh, don`t get me wrong, I LOVE deep-fried food. Yet, aside from health concern (go D-U-H me away now), I hate the oil leftover, and I hate how the frying smell sticks on my hair. So, I always make my fritters flat to reduce the oil amount. Place a spoonful of batter on the pan and poke it repeatedly to make it flat and to fasten the cooking process. Okay, the latter one is just my theory. You may ignore it of course.

I burned them. Sorry, but this is the best-looking fritter I had today. Make sure to use a low-medium heat, okay?

You can have it with rice (that`s how it`s usually served in Indonesia) or just as snacks. I do both.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1-2 whole eggs, beaten

200 g corn

50 g kanikama

5 cloves of garlic (adjust to your taste), fried

cilantro, chopped

coriander

salt and pepper

8 (heaping ) tbsp flour