Makyachya KaNasacha Upama

Fresh Corn Upama

Almost all of us have memory of eating fire roasted corn, bhutta, during monsoon season. Perfectly roasted corn seasoned with right amount of chili powder, salt and lime juice makes it must have for almost everyone! Surprisingly, we did not have street vendors selling these snacks in our town. Everyone roasted their own whenever fresh corn is available. I remember my mom used to roast them on the gas stove for me and my brother as after school snack. She used to use butter or ghee with salt and little bit of chili powder to coat the corn. Ah! the aroma and flavor!!

The recipe I am going to share today is called makyachya kaNasacha chivada (fresh corn chivda) at my place. It is because of the firmer texture of grain of Indian corn. It is not as sweet as American corn either,  that makes this dish look very much like chivada. American corn is very creamy so the texture changes and becomes more like porridge so I started calling it upama. I love both the versions. It is made exactly same way -

3-4 Fresh Corns on the cob (or 3-4 cups of frozen corn)
2-3 Green Chilies
1 small Onion
Salt Per Taste
½ tsp Sugar (optional)
Fistful of Chopped Cilantro
2 tbsp Peanut powder
Juice From Half Lemon
2 tbsp Oil
For Tempering - 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds, Few Curry leaves, pinch of Turmeric


Preparation -
Husk the corn, and remove all the silk threads. Carefully grate the corn, reserve all the juice. If you are using frozen corn, coarsely grind it in food processor.
Cut onion into fine dice. Slit green chilies.
Heat oil on medium heat in a heavy bottom pan. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds, and let them splutter. Add curry leaves and green chilies. Let them sizzle for a minute or two.
Now add chopped onion, saute until light brown.
Now add corn with all its juice. Add salt and mix thoroughly. Lower the heat, cover and let the corn cook. Stir once or twice so that it does not stick to the bottom.
Add peanut powder and sugar once corn is completely cooked. Add chopped cilantro and squeeze lemon and mix.
Enjoy while its hot. You can serve it with little bit of sev.

Tips - 

1. Adding peanut powder is my friend, Meghana's idea. I loved the little crunch it gives to the dish. 
2. If you have fresh corn cobs and do not want to grate it, you can slice off the kernels from the cob just as shown in this video.Then you can grind the kernels in the food processor.