Corn bread - native, hearty, festive and quick

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Laura who lived with her Ma & Pa, older sister Mary and baby sister Carrie. They left their Big Woods home in Wisconsin and started to move towards the wild Western states in search of better life, wild west was also known as Indian country. They had to travel for many many days in their big caravan and camp at nightfall.

''..Pa brought water from the creek, while Mary and Laura helped Ma get supper. Ma measured coffee beans into the coffee-mill and Mary ground them. Laura filled the coffee pot with the water Pa brought, and Ma set the pot in the coals. She set the iron bake-oven in the coals too. When it heated, she mixed cornmeal and salt with water and patted it into little cakes. She greased the bake-oven with a pork rind, laid the cornmeal cakes in it, and put on its iron cover. Then Pa raked more coals over the cover, while Ma sliced fat salt pork. ...The coffee boiled, cakes baked and they all smelled so good that Laura grew hungrier and hungrier..."

That is a small excerpt from the Little house books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read this over & over with my little girl. It is an autobiographical series from the late 1800s where much of America was still unpopulated and life was farming based and pre-industrialization. The stories are very heartfelt, makes you fall in love with the Ingalls family as they go through their ups and downs in life but more importantly I think it is a story from the times when family values were held high. If you have little girls and boys and looking for bed time reads, I would strongly recommend these books.

Well, back to today's recipe, I made some corn bread for our Thanksgiving brunch, corn bread is a very native American recipe that is hugely popular for its simplicity and taste. As you see above, in the olden days the humble corn bread was cooked with just salt and water and may be a little bit of fat if you could manage it. The easy bake cake has morphed into suave variations and Mexican immigrants have added their own touch with peppers in these corn breads. These keep well and taste good when cold also and hence easy to carry on travels. Southern corn breads usually are sweeter and have eggs in them. I like it spicier, skip the egg and reduce the sugar.

Indiana is known as the cornfields of midwest and I have seen corn fields and corn until your 'eyes can tire of the sight'. As you drive by, you could reach out and touch the ripe corn cobs by the roadside. Corn  is put into many uses including fuel generation.

There are many variations of eggless corn bread on the web and here is my adaptation from a few different sources. This corn bread is perfectly moist and 'just right' crumbly in your mouth.

What do you need to make corn bread? 
Makes a 8" pan about 2" cooked pieces
1 cup corn meal (I used coarse yellow corn meal)
1 cup all purpose flour or maida
1.5 cups milk (Use soy or almond milk to make it vegan)
1.5 Tblsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tblsp sugar
3/4 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp baking soda
1 Tsp baking powder
1/4 cup corn (fresh or frozen)
2 Tblsp oil
1 jalepeno pepper, washed, deseeded and chopped into small pieces (Optional)

How do you make corn bread? 

• Pour milk and cider in a bowl, mix with a spoon and set aside for 5 minutes. 
• Add the flour, corn meal, salt, sugar, corn kernels, baking soda & baking powder in a wide bowl and mix them until well incorporated. 

• Pour in the milk+cider mixture, add oil and mix lightly until everything folds in together. 
• Pre heat oven to 425F, prepare a 8" pan with a spray of cooking spray. 
• Pour the batter and add the jalepeno pieces on top. 

• Bake for 25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. 

• Let cool and cut into wedges. 

Notes: 

• You can use plain vinegar and increase the amount of sugar by another Tsp if you like it sweeter. 
• You can bake the mixture in small muffin cups for individual serving. 
• I add the jalepeno on half of the pan and leave the other half for heat intolerant people.
• You can be creative and add other spices to make the corn bread customized to your taste - I add roasted, ground cumin sometimes.

Here is a view of our Thanksgiving brunch with the mysuru masala dose, cranberry chutney, baked BN squash, baked sweet potatoes, pomogranate mosaranna and corn bread

Eggless Meyer lemon cake and a milestone

When life gives you lemons you enjoy lemonade. When life surprises you with Meyer lemons what do you do? I kept coming across many flattering notes about Meyer lemon in the cook books and shows I read or watched. It has been hailed as the wonderful lemon by many chefs and I kept wanting to discover this treat causing such a stir in the culinary world. Last year with our relocation, I missed the season as it runs November through March. But then with so much popularity and demand the fruit has been cultivated and you do notice off-season picks in stores. May be one day, it will be available around the year :-). I found boxes of these mini beauties in Costco last week and immediately brought home a box to feel, taste and experiment with them.

For the uninitiated, Meyer lemons are smaller lemons (compared to the usual ones you find in grocery store isles) and are a mix of lemon and mandarin/orange. They have a rich yellow color bordering on orange. This is a native fruit from China brought to the US and grown locally now. I recently found out that you can grow meyer lemons in pots, and it is on my list of future things to do. Why all the hype around Meyer lemons? These have a tangy flavor like regular lemons but are not as strong as the regular lemons that make you pucker, you can actually eat it as a fruit if you like the tart mandarins. What makes Mayer lemons special is the overwhelming flavor, the aroma simply takes your breath away. It is a very refreshing feel in the kitchen. There are down sides, these are not replacements to lemons or mandarins for that matter because it is a cross between the two and also at the higher price tag you should stick to lemons and mandarin to do their regular job :-). But, it is definitely worth once in a while to indulge in these delicious fruits.

I tried these Meyer lemons in various recipes and the verdict: it gives a wonderful boost to cakes and quick breads and makes a quick pickle (the skin softens faster than the regular lemon) but is not a good substitute if you are making lemon rice :-). Will I use it again, yes when in season and cheaper but not resort to impulse buy out-of-season denting my pocket.

My daughter loves lemon cakes, the soft, slightly tangy ones are her favorites. So I set out on a search for a lemon cake preferably without eggs (as amma is visiting and she doesn't eat eggs and though no restrictions I would love it without eggs too) and googled quite a bit. Finally zeroed on a recipe from here. She uses regular lemons, adds lemon extract, extra virgin olive oil and maple syrup as sweetener. I made certain changes to suit my family's taste and used what I had in my pantry, we ended up loving every bite of the the soft, moist and 'Meyer lemony' cake.

Oh about the milestone, this is the 100th post on Sattvaa :-). It has been 8 months and I had no targets (still do not have) on the number of posts and here I am with my 100th post. It feels very good and I am grateful to all you readers that visit me often, it makes my day to see your comments and see the stats. Those of you that have chosen to remain anonymous so far for any reason, consider taking a moment next time you visit and leave me a comment (good, bad, ugly anything), I would love to hear from you.

So here is a celebration recipe of a simple eggless, butterless Meyer lemon cake to go with your evening chai. And yes, you can definitely use the regular lemon in this recipe, look for my notes at the end.

What do you need to make Mayer Lemon Tea cake? 
Recipe Source: Chef Chloe
2 cups All purpose flour
1 Tsp baking soda
1 Tsp baking powder
1/4 Tsp salt
1/2 cup cooking oil (I used Sunflower oil)
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice
2 heaped Tblsp lemon zest (I grated 3 Meyer lemons)

How do you make Mayer Lemon Tea cake? 

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• In a wide bowl mix AP flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.
• In a separate bowl add oil, sugar, lemon juice, water, lemon extract and whisk it for a couple of minutes. 
• Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix them together until it forms a batter without lumps. Do not over mix and I didn't use my hand mixer either. 

• I used my bread baking pan -  pour the mixture in and bake it for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. 
• Let the cake cool down completely before slicing and eating. 

• Enjoy the lemony goodness with a hint of tangerine flavor. 

Notes:

• If using regular lemons, reduce the amount of lemon juice to 1/4 cup to not make the cake taste too tart. 
• As I mentioned, the original recipe calls for maple syrup but I used regular sugar for sweetener.