Thai Coconut Corn Stew

How do you bookmark your recipes? Every day I am inundated by oodles of recipes I want to make from other bloggers, from my cookbooks, or just something I whip up in my head (and belly).

I know there are applications and websites to help you figure this out, but they have been too cumbersome for me. I am old school. I email myself the recipes and stick them in a searchable folder. The rest, my brain has to take care of, as it remembers what I don’t put into emails.

When I can’t find a suitable recipe in my email treasure trove or rack my brain as to what’s in my cookbooks, I will often consult my favourite bloggers. My favourite way to tackle this is through Google Reader, which is a quick and easy way to narrow my search to my blogs of interest.

So when Rob and I picked up a dozen ears of corn, I had to scour everywhere for corn recipes. I usually don’t like corn – of the frozen or canned variety. I will actively remove it from recipes (celery gets removed even more quickly) so it was a challenge to do the opposite. Find me some corn delicacies!

Hopefully the last few corny posts have shown you how great corn can be, from the simple grilled ears, to pan-toasting the kernels for a salad, or boiling the corn to put in a quinoa salad, or as a savoury filling for a cornmeal pancake.

Corn soups are another way to enjoy corn. Trust me, I have bookmarked so many corn soup recipes that I had a difficult time narrowing it down to which I wanted to try. In the end, I thought this Thai Coconut Corn Stew, which Ashley made last year from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan hit it right (recipe also posted here). A soup that could come together quickly despite its long ingredient list.  In addition to the coconut milk as the backdrop for the chowder, red bell pepper is added for sweetness. The soup is flavoured with lemongrass, lime, ginger, cilantro and a hint of spice from chili flakes, creating a very complex soup without too much fuss. It is nice and creamy from the coconut milk and pureed corn, but also surprisingly light at the same time. Seriously yummy, this recipe is a keeper!

In all honesty, I didn’t use cilantro for the salad. I used Vietnamese coriander. While researching what to plant, we found out cilantro tends to bolt in the summer. Ours bolted during the heat wave. But we had a back-up! Vietnamese coriander! It continues to give us nice leaves that taste similar to cilantro with a bright, lemony accent. Thankfully it is a perennial, so we should have some of it next year, too. 🙂 I also grew lemongrass but the stalks don’t look anything like what I buy in the grocery store.. so who knows what I am to do with the leaves only. Sunny’s to the rescue with 6 lemongrass stalks for a $1. 🙂

Here are some other corn soups that I had spotted elsewhere:

Roasted Tomato and Grilled Corn Soup from The Edible Perspective
Summer Sweet Corn Soup with Basil Oil from Julia’s Vegan Kitchen
Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Corn and Cilantro from Oui, Chef
Tomato, Corn and Basil Soup from New England Soup Factory Cookbook
Sweet Pepper Coconut Corn Chowder from ExtraVeganZa
Summer Corn and Coconut Soup from Choosing Raw
Japanese Corn Cream Soup from The Well-Seasoned Cook

This is my submission to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays, to this month’s Simple and in Season, to this month’s My Kitchen, My World destination Thailand, to Ricki’s Wellness Weekends, to this month’s Bookmarked Recipes, to this month’s Ingredient Challenge Monday for coconut, and to this month’s No Croutons Required featuring home-grown produce.

Thai Coconut Corn Stew

1/2 tbsp oil
1 cup onion, diced
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
3/4 tsp coriander seeds
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 stalk lemongrass
4 cups frozen corn kernels (from 4 ears of corn)
2 cups vegetable stock
1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 tsp lime zest (from 1 lime)
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice (1 lime)
1/3 – 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1. In a large pot on medium heat, add oil, onions, garlic, ginger, coriander seeds, salt, and red pepper flakes and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, cut off lower yellow bulbous portion of lemongrass,and remove and discard tough outer leaves along with upper portion of stalk. Using a chef’s knife, “bruise” the bulbous portion to release flavour: cut a few slits and using pressure of knife, open and bruise stalk. Add it to the pot, along with 3 cups corn kernels, stock, and coconut milk, and increase heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

3. Remove lemongrass, and with a hand blender, briefly puree soup to make it a little creamier. Return lemongrass to pot, and stir in remaining 1 cup corn kernels and diced red bell pepper. Cover and cook for another 5-6 minutes on medium-low heat. Stir in lime zest and lime juice (adjust to taste). Season with additional salt if desired. Just before serving, stir in cilantro.

Serves 4-5.