a couple of years ago, reid and I spent 3 months backpacking around southeast asia, planning our days around eating all the food we possible could. our mission was to find locals who could give us lessons on what they cooked at home.
toward the end of the trip, we ended up in ubud, a lush and tropical town on the island of bali. we found a lady named dewa, whose class ended up being our favourite of the entire trip. she welcomed us into her home — a series of separate, outdoor rooms that surrounded a central courtyard. here, she grew lemongrass, ginger, chili peppers (just to name a few), all available at arm’s reach from the kitchen we were cooking from. how dreamy! along with 4 other recipes, she taught us how to make this corn fritter that we can’t get enough of!
Serves 3-4
Ingredients (Paste)
1 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. black peppercorns
1/4 tsp. white peppercorns (optional)
1 stalk lemongrass, ends trimmed, thinly sliced from the bottom up until inner purple ring disappears (the inner purple ring is the most fragrant part)
1-inch ginger, skinned and thinly sliced
1-inch turmeric, pounded (you can substitute with 1 tsp. powdered turmeric)
1-inch galangal, pounded or thinly sliced
1 long green chili, roughly chopped
1 long red chili, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 makrut lime leaves, destemmed, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp. shrimp paste (optional)
Ingredients (Fritters)
canola oil (or anything with a high smoke point)
3 cobs corn, cut off the cob, grinded in a blender or food processor *important to see note
all of the paste from above
1 egg
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup rice flour or gf ap flour
Ingredients (Tamarind Dipping Sauce)
1 tbsp. tamarind paste
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. fish sauce/gf tamari (if vegan)
1 tsp. all natural peanut butter
1 tsp. sambal oelek
1 tsp. paprika
1 garlic clove, minced (optional)
Instructions
In a blender, mortar and pestle, or spice grinder, grind coriander, black peppercorns, and white peppercorns into a powder. Set aside in a medium to large size mixing bowl.
In a blender or mortar and pestle, combine ingredients from lemongrass to makrut lime leaves into a paste. Add to the mixing bowl along with shrimp paste. Using a rubber spatula, combine until all ingredients are well incorporated.
Except for the oil, add fritter ingredients into the bowl and mix well.
Whisk together dipping sauce ingredients in a separate bowl.
In a wok or dutch oven, preheat 1-inch of oil on medium heat until it reaches 350F. Line paper towel on top of a cooling rack and stack on top of a sheet tray. If you don’t have a cooling rack, line the sheet tray with 2 layers of paper towel.
Using two spoons, quenelle batter directly into the hot oil to form fritters. The batter will seem loose but will stay together once fried. Fry each for 2-3 minutes, or until golden brown. Form and fry as many as you can comfortably fit in your pan without overcrowding. Cover with a splatter guard. Transfer cooked fritters onto the sheet tray and let cool. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Serve with tamarind dipping sauce.
Fritters can be fried up to an hour ahead of time, kept at room temperature and reheated in an oven or toaster oven until heated through and crispy. Fried fritters can be laid out on a sheet tray to freeze and then transferred to a ziplock bag. Can keep for up to 1 month.
*Note: Make sure your corn is well grounded as full kernels can pop dangerously out of the hot oil like popcorn!