Fresh Peas and Corn Cakes
Pink-eye Purple-Hull Peas, Steamed Broccoli, and Corn Cakes
It's been a crazy, hectic week here. Our 9-year-old E. is in an opera! She and several of the students from her school are part of the children's chorus in a local opera production, which will (finally) be performed this weekend. Between driving her to and from rehearsals and staying up late to make sure she gets her homework done, D. and I are almost as tired as she is. So our meals have become simpler as our lives have become more chaotic.
One of my favorite fast-but-healthy meals is fresh peas, a steamed vegetable, and a starch. If you can get fresh peas of any kind, the taste is just miles better than the canned version. Here in Mississippi, farmers' markets and farm stands often sell already shelled peas in several varieties--lady cream peas, pinkeye purple hull peas, and baby lima beans are among my favorites. Whatever the variety, my technique for cooking them is pretty much the same.
First, I chop an onion and sauté it in a non-stick saucepan until it starts to caramelize. Then I add a little garlic, and cook for another minute. Then I add the peas (about a pound for the 3 of us) and enough water to cover them by about an inch. I season them well with whatever herbs I've decided to use. This time around, I cooked the adorable pinkeye purple-hull peas with thyme, rosemary, and fresh French tarragon, but for lima beans my favorite combination is thyme and marjoram. Sage, parsley, pepper, basil, oregano--all of these herbs have made their way into my peas at one time or another, and they're all good.
Once the peas and seasonings are in the pot, I cover it with the lid slightly ajar and let the peas cook until tender. It depends a lot on the peas whether this takes 20 minutes or an hour, so I plan for about an hour. I watch the pot and add water as necessary. When they're done, I add salt to taste. I sometimes thicken the cooking liquid by adding a cornstarch mixture or by simply mashing some of the peas to release their starches; this makes a wonderful gravy, suitable for "sopping up" with a piece of cornbread. (I skipped this step this time, choosing instead to serve the "pot liquor" in its natural state.)
While the peas are cooking, I prepare my side dishes. Steamed broccoli is a favorite around here, so it's my fall-back vegetable. As far as starches go, we're usually potato people. Mashed or baked potatoes both go well with peas, though sometimes I will opt for hash browns. On this occasion, however, I took a little extra time and threw together some corn cakes.
Corn cakes are great when you're in a hurry; they cook much more quickly than a pan of corn bread, though if you're feeding a crowd, a pan of corn bread will save more time. I make corn cakes a little differently each time, but here's the version I made most recently, which should be gluten-free if you use brands of corn meal and flour that are certified gluten-free.
Easy Corn Cakes
1 cup yellow corn meal
1/2 cup hot water
3/4 cup chickpea flour (besan) or rice flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer
1 cup soymilk
2 tsp. lemon juice
Mix the corn meal with the hot water until crumbly. Add the remaining dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Mix the soymilk with the lemon juice and pour it into the dry ingredients. Mix well, and set aside while you heat your skillet.
Spray a non-stick or cast iron skillet with a little canola oil. Get it hot, and then cook the corn cakes like pancakes, allowing about 1/4 cup batter per corn cake. Cook until well-browned on each side. Makes about 8-10.
It's going to be a long weekend, so I'll see you after the opera! :-)
Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free Eat to Live gluten-free
Labels: bread, gluten-free, Southern cooking














21 Comments:
Susan, I want to make this for my children but as we aren't vegans and eat eggs, can I susbtitute the egg ingredient with real eggs? Do you by any chance know how many I need?
Thanks for the gluten free corn cakes recipe!
Hi Ilva--just use one egg instead of the egg replacer powder. You may also need to adjust the liquid a little. Start with a little less milk (or buttermilk) and add it until it's the right consistency. I hope it turns out well for you!
Corn Cakes...I'll have to try those!!!
What a great meal, especially those corn cakes. I'm always looking for vegan recipes that my non-veg daughter might eat and I think those corn cakes would fit the bill. Thanks for sharing.
Those corn cakes look delicious. My dad's family is originally from Mississippi and Louisiana, and we ate a lot of corn cakes growing up. One of my favorite parts of your website is all of the great, vegan versions of the southern food my grandmother use to make.
These look good... and they're gluten free! :)
How wonderful for E! Amazing. And the corn cakes sound really yummy [and gluten free]. Bravo to both of you.
;-)
thanks for this wonderful "in a rush" menu. I'm always in a rush, so I'm sure this would be used soon.
Congrats on the opera part! That's gotta be exciting!
Looks great! I love the beautiful photo!
Thanks for the corn cakes recipe! I'm usually only cooking for two, so this will be great instead of a whole pan of corn bread!
id really love to try this recipe for corn cakes it looks amazing.
but one question? is it possible to add fresh corn kernels to the batter and if so how much?
extemporaneous, I think you could safely add 1/4 to 1/2 cup corn kernels to the batter. Any more than that and you risk them not holding together well.
This is similar to Hot Water Cornbread that my grandmother's maid used to make on the days she came. I begged her for it, and one day she taught me to make it, but it was never as good as hers.
And it must be served with a mess 'a peas!
I don't eat black eyed peas that often, but this is making me want some!
LOVE this site! Would you recommend using frozen peas in this recipe?
Hi Anonymous! Sure, I use frozen peas when I can't get fresh. Just cook them until they're tender.
Thanks for visiting!
Hi Susan! Quick question. I wanted to try these out for a Xmas potluck party (I was going to serve them with your Fava Bean Dip posted in July!) - I was wondering how they taste cold/sitting out for a while?
Thanks!
Btw, my husband and I have slowly been turning vegan over the years and your blog has helped us eat more than just salads :) Thanks so much!!
Hi Anon! So, are you going to try to dip the corn cakes in the fava bean dip? I'm a little afraid they'd fall apart because that dip is a little on the thick side. I think they would probably taste okay sitting out for a while, but I'm one of those people who likes my food hot, so I'm not the best one to ask! :-)
Hi Susan! Thanks for your reply (my name is Julie btw). No I was going to make the two separately (the corn cakes and dip) and then serve them together so that people could smear the dip onto the cakes. I'm going to test it out first tonight and see how they go together :)
Hi Susan!
I've read your blog faithfully for a while, but this is the first recipe I've made - I love cornmeal and don't have an oven, so I was really glad to find a savory recipe that included it! I also had some besan flour that I had no idea what to use in, so this came in handy. I followed your recipe , but substituted regular tofu for the ener-G, which we don't have here in Switzerland. I just blended the tofu into the soymilk with the lemon juice and proceeded as normal. Didn't have any peas on hand (that weren't dry) so I had this with hummus and fresh tomatoes instead. So good! I'll be back soon to try some more stuff!
Hi Susan!
Thank you for the awesome corn cake recipe. We had these with our black eyed peas. We like spice so I doubled the red pepper flakes. Wow! Hot is an understatment. :o)
I love that these are so quick and easy.
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