IT WILL BE CORN

I haven’t written anything here in a long time. I have no idea how that happened, maybe nothing to say? It is a long standing principle of mine that as a writer I should only write when I have something to say. Yet I have cooked many meals since the last post! So I want to write about food briefly, and this being summer, it will be corn. The drought here in the Finger Lakes has been awful. It follows a warm spring with a late frost. That late frost saw temperatures of 5 degrees, which killed the cherry buds and killed my peach tree outright. The drought then did in the raspberries. Anything that didn’t get water either died or retreated deep into itself. That said, there are great tomatoes and peppers this year, excellent onions, garlic and corn. Last night I had a big bowl of leftover bean thread noodles, and some corn. I decided to make a Chinese corn dish. I love fried corn. You cut the kernels off the cob and then cook them in any number of ways: with bacon or sausage for instance. For this dish I briefly stir fried corn with jalapenos, garlic, sweet pepper and onions.

Stir Fried Corn

4 ears of corn
1 large jalapeno pepper, chopped into small dice (with or without seeds, I like seeds and heat)
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup green or red sweet pepper, diced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
two pinches of salt

2T vegetable oil, (not olive oil)
2 t sesame oil
2 T vinegar ( I used Chenkong, but you can use any vinegar)

Cut kernels off the cob. Get a wok very hot, add 2 T of oil. Add garlic and jalapenos, stir fry until fragrant, then add the corn and 1 pinch of salt. Stir fry for a minute or two, then add the onion and sweet pepper. Stir fry briefly, add the second pinch of salt, sesame oil and vinegar. Let it sizzle and serve. You can eat this with rice, but I loved it with the bean threads. Bean threads are easy. You soak them in hot water until soft. They come in bundles, and they are quite long, so you have to cut through them 2-3 times with two sharp knives, after they are soaked and drained, and in a bowl. It’s a scissors like motion.