JACOB'S BA'S SWEETCORN SHAAK

Jacob Shah
Partner Investment, London
What this dish means to me
This is proper Indian food. Not the westernised curries you’d get from your high-street Indian. An authentic dish from the Gujarat region, which I learnt from my grandmother (or “Ba” in Gujarti) when we spent the afternoon cooking together several years ago.
As is the case with most family recipes, there's no set instructions or measurements, everything is done to taste! However, that is part of the charm, which I’ve sought to maintain below by adding in green annotations to the method like I did those many years ago.
Ba sadly passed away on New Years Eve just gone, however her memory lives on in her food. She was well known in the family for cooking, waking up at the crack of dawn on Diwali to prepare an entire banquet of Gujarati goodness for the entire extended family!
Best served with rice, salad and naan. You can also easily vary the dish by swapping out the sweetcorn for other vegetables like okra or aubergine.


SERVES
5-6

MINUTES
45

DIFFICULTY
4/10

INGREDIENTS
4 corn on the cobs
2 potatoes cut into 1cm3 pieces
1 onion (chopped)
Pinch of asafoetida (also known as hing, a spice that gives a savoury, umami flavour to a dish)
2 tins of chopped tomatoes (Ba used to get tins of whole tomatoes then jiggle a knife in the tin to chop them up, but buying chopped tomatoes is easier!)
3 teaspoons of salt
½ teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of chili powder
2 teaspoons of sugar
4 teaspoons of crushed peanuts
4 teaspoons of desiccated coconut
2 handfuls of frozen mixed veg
2 handfuls of frozen sweetcorn
⅓ bunch of fresh coriander (chopped, stalks and all)
Rice (basmati recommended)
Naan (your choice)
Salad (whatever you fancy)

METHOD
Step 1
Steam the sweetcorn for 20 mins and par boil the potato cubes. In the meantime, crack on with the rest of the recipe. Once the sweetcorn is cooked, chop each cob into one-inch pieces and then cut each piece in half lengthways (ie you’ll be left with semi-circles that are one-inch long).
Step 2
Heat oil in a large pan, add a pinch of asafoetida, and gently fry the onion until it’s softened but not browned. (About 5 mins)
Step 3
Add half a teaspoon of turmeric, one teaspoons of ground coriander (best to lightly toast the seeds in a frying pan before grinding in a pestle & mortar), one teaspoon of ground cumin, one teaspoon of chili powder. Fry until aromatic.
This is the one change I have made to Ba’s original recipe, who would add the spices after the tomatoes. Heating spices in oil first before adding wet ingredients is known as blooming and is a better method to release and deepen their flavour.

Step 4
Add the tins of chopped tomatoes, then fill one of the tins with water and add that to the pan as well.
Step 5
Add two teaspoons of salt and one teaspoon of sugar. Then to thicken the sauce and give it a nice texture, add the crushed peanuts and desiccated coconut. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins.
Step 6
Add in the cooked corn on the cob and potatoes.
Step 7
Add the frozen mixed veg, frozen sweetcorn, and more tomatoes if needed, (we didn't).
Step 8
Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 mins.
Step 9
Taste and add more spices if needed. (We added ½ teaspoon of chili powder, one teaspoon of salt and 1½ teaspoon of sugar).
Step 10
Add the coriander and give it a good stir. Serve with rice, salad and naan. Satisfaction guaranteed!

TOP TIP – The fool proof way to cook rice
We seem to have an endemic in the UK of stodgy, sticky rice – eurgh. Here I’m going to give you a fool proof method of cooking that perfect, soft, fluffy rice. The trick is to use the absorption method and stick to basmati rice.
Step 1
Give your rice a good wash until the water runs clear. (Starch is loosened from the outer layer of rice grains during processing and handling, which will make it stodgy once cooked if not washed out).
Step 2
Pop the rice in a microwaveable bowl with a lid. Fill the bowl with hot water until the water level is a thumbnail above the rice.
Step 3
Pop on the lid and microwave for 10 mins. Doesn’t matter how much rice you’re cooking. It’s always 10 mins – easy!
Step 4
Fluff up with a fork and serve. Perfect rice every time.
