Fresh Corn Pottage

I have to make Fresh Corn Pottage as  corn season is almost over . How do you know this? The heaps of corn leaves are disappearing from rubbish dumps, the ladies that roast corn are gradually switching over to plantains or yams.

What you have now is the mature corn , getting quite hard  , so boiling or roasting will put some pressure on the jaws, except of course if you prefer the hard corn as some people do.I must say that the outcome  of  this dish is best gotten from mature corn but not hard

I realize that for those of my fans residing in the USA or UK  you might find it difficult to get this type of corn or maybe you can. Let me know. On several visits to north America I only found tender sweet corn. This type of corn does not have much starch so the pottage will not be thick. You may want to add a bit of corn starch to the fresh sweet corn. The benefit of Fresh corn pottage is the high fibre content. The ease of preparation also makes it interesting. Also available is another interesting corn recipe which is  coconut corn pottage.
Since my dad  turned 90 years with most of the denture gone I also found that this is a nice meal for him and I believe will be interesting for many older folks . Adding lots of vegetables is also a way to get our aged to eat their vegetables. Papa happy birthday to you!

So before fresh Corn disappears for the year , have yourself a corn treat. The way to enjoy the meal is to accompany each spoon of the pottage with a piece of meat:).

Recipe for Fresh Corn Pottage

Ingredients
4 cobs of Corn
16 pieces small pieces  of Beef ( previously cooked)
4 cooking spoons Tomatoes/ Pepper blend
1 medium sized onion ( chopped)
One table spoon ground Crayfish

1 cooking spoon Palm oil
Handful vegetables of choice
Seasoning to taste
Salt to taste

Method
1,  Separate the corn kernel from the cob, wash and pound. If you do not have a mortar you may wish to grate using the larger hole of the grater. The texture of the corn is not smooth.

2, Heat the oil, do not bleach,  fry the onion  and the beef briefly and add the tomatoes/ pepper blend to fry
3, Add crayfish, seasoning and salt to taste and continue to fry stirring to prevent burning
4, Add meat stock and water and continue boiling for about 4 – 5 minutes till the sauce is well cooked
5, Add the pounded corn , lower the heat and cook for about 5 – 7 minutes stirring with wooden spoon to get the uncooked corn on top to cook.You may need to add more water to be sure the corn is cooked. The way to know is the whitish corn turns translucent when cooked
6, As you cook the pottage will thicken.

7, When is cooked ,add the vegetable and cook for 2 -3 minutes.
8, Serve hot or warm

Cooking tip:  Corn generally thickens or gets hard when cold.