What to eat tonight: Smoked sweetcorn fritters

Smoked sweetcorn is really delicious when stirred into a lightly spiced batter and made into fritters. This is an ideal recipe to make for a weekend brunch or lunch.

Smoked Sweetcorn Fritters
Makes about 16 fritters

Ingredients

• 150g self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 large egg, beaten
  
• 400g smoked corn kernels – about 2-3 cobs (see method, below)
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil

Method

1  Sift the flour, salt, cumin and paprika into a large mixing bowl. Add the beaten egg and 125ml water and whisk to form a thick batter. Stir through the corn and spring onions. Set aside.

2  Add 1 tbsp of oil to a large non-stick frying pan. Heat over a medium-high heat. Swirl the pan to ensure the oil is evenly distributed over the base.

3  Preheat the oven to 100ºC/fan 80ºC. Spoon 1 heaped tbsp of mixture per fritter into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until the fritters are rich brown. Work in batches and avoid overcrowding the pan. Transfer to a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

4  Serve warm – they are excellent with an avocado salsa made from chopped avocado, tomato, fresh coriander leaves and lime juice.

Smoked Corn on the Cob

1  Preheat your smoker with the wood chips inside. When the smoker is at about 95ºC, add the corn and smoke for 30 minutes-1 hour until the husks are as smoky as you like.

2  The smoked corn will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. The kernels will stay fresher on the husk but you can strip them off the husks and store them for ease of use if you wish.

Tip: If you are smoking the sweetcorn with the husks off, rub a little flavourless vegetable oil over the corn and season with a little salt and pepper before smoking.

Extracted from Smoked by Charlotte Pike (Kyle Books, approx €21). Photography by Tara Fisher.