After trying these Japanese corn fritters, it’s so good that I almost want to wipe out all others I’ve made, only to keep this one and the Indonesian Bakwan Jagung.
I learnt this recipe from Anna Jones’s vegetarian cookbook ‘One Pot, Pan, Planet‘. There are more vegetarian recipes I want to try out, too!
Why I Love These Corn Fritters
Easy Cooking: No blender; no taking out kernels from a cob because we use frozen. Just mix all in one bowl and then shallow-fry only.
Crispy and Sweet: Using rice flour hence the extra crispy texture! And the individual corn kernels give a popping sweetness.
Addictive Yuzu Kosho Flavour: Just a tiny amount gives an unmissable kick and citrusy spicyness. No other flavour like this, and it’s truly brighten up these corn fritters.
More on Yuzu Kosho
Yuzu kosho (柚子こしょう) is a Japanese seasoning made with chili pepper paste with grated yuzu peels. A grate yuzu kosho should contains only pepper, yuzu and salt. Watch out the ingredient label before buying as some products may mix with colour pigment, thickener etc.
I like to use it as marinade and dipping sauce. Its salt content is pretty high — mine is almost 20 g salt per 100 g — so use it sparingly, or go easy with extra salt.
Japanese Yuzu Kosho Corn Fritters Recipe
This is a beginner-friendly corn fritter recipe if you know how to mix things up and fry! Don’t put too much water, and the batter should have a thick pancake consistency, so that the fritters won’t spread out.
Ingredients
Makes 6-7
- 170 g frozen corn (defrosted)
- 1 scallion, chopped into rings
- a small handful of coriander
For the Batter
- 30 g plain flour
- 25 g rice flour (not glutinous)
- a pinch of baking powder
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp yuzu kosho
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 65 g water
For the Dip
- 1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- ¼ tsp honey
- finely chopped fresh chilli (optional)
How to Make
- First make the batter. Place all the ingredients (except water) in a bowl and mix well. Then pour in the water and mix into a smooth batter.
- Drop in the corn kernels and mix again.
- Heat enough oil to coat a 24cm pan and set to a medium-high heat. Spoon in heaped tablespoonfuls of batter carefully — that’s how big is each piece; adjust if you want smaller pieces.
- Pan-fry for a few minutes until nicely browned. Then flip to the other side to fry.
- While frying, mix all the dipping sauce ingredients together.
- Serve with salad or part of a rice dish.
