Baking ~ Savoury ~ Corn Bread

Corn Bread with Potato Basil Soup and Egg Salad

So after a few years and many bags of unopened (and subsequently trashed) cornmeal, I am finally posting the corn bread I made for our dinner last evening. I tried my hand at it a few times, experimenting with a few recipes. I even made cornmeal muffins which was very similar to the corn bread. I found a real simple recipe that worked well for me. I used mint and green chillies to add some flavour. This is a versatile recipe and any herbs of choice can be used. I will be making this again with a splash of vegetables like chopped onion, green onions, red & yellow peppers, corn kernels etc. I also think adding some red chilli flakes, chopped black or green olives or even different herbs like oregano, rosemary etc will give it a nice flavour.

Easy Corn Bread

(Makes 4 moderate servings)

Used this recipe from Mark Bitman, omitting the sugar and using buttermilk instead of plain milk. The crumb was very light and made for a fluffy loaf of cornbread. (I halved the recipe)

3/4 cup cornmeal (I used a medium grind, pulsed in the food processor for a minute to make it smoother)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used regular chapati atta)

11/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3/4 cup buttermilk (add a teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar to milk and let stand for 10 minutes)

2 tablespoons finely chopped mint leaves

1 green chilli, chopped fine

2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 F and prepare a metal baking tin (I used a loaf pan) by greasing it with a bit of the oil. Place the tin in the oven to heat along with the oven.

In a mixing bowl, add the cornmeal, wheat flour, baking soda and powder, salt and mint and green chillies and mix well.

In a mixing jar, add the egg and the oil to the buttermilk and whisk it till everything is mixed through. Add this to the dry ingredients and gently mix until everything is wet with a few even strokes.

Pour the batter into the heated baking tin, bake for about 20-25 minutes or till a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and rest for 10 minutes before taking the loaf out of the tin and slicing.

Serve with a hearty soup or bean chilli. I served it with a hearty Potato Basil Soup and Egg Salad for dinner.