Whole Wheat Corn Fritters with Fresh Tomato and Corn Salsa

I have been promising my husband I was going to make corn fritters for a couple of weeks now since we made the traditional version in cooking class. Tonight was the night I finally kept my promise.

My version of the corn fritters was made with whole-wheat pastry flour to increase the fiber and nutrition. I added a number of spices to the corn fritters to add a bit of complexity to the pancakes. I crisped the cakes in small amount of oil in a cast iron pan. The corn fritters were starting to get too much color so I finished them in a 300 degree oven to finish the inside of the corn cakes without burning the exterior.

My husband could have eaten the entire batch of corn fritters by himself tonight. If your family includes big eaters you may want to double or triple this recipe.

Whole Wheat Corn Fritters
Serves 2 or 1 hungry man

Dry Ingredients:

½ cup of whole-wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons of white corn meal
¼ teaspoon of baking powder
¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
¼ teaspoon of cumin seed
1/8 teaspoon of oregano, dried
1/8 teaspoon of ancho chili powder
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Wet Ingredients:

¾ teaspoon of egg replacer (ENERG)
1 tablespoon of warm water
¼ cup of almond milk
enough water to make a pancake texture batter
1 cup of corn kernels, fresh from the cob or frozen and drained
2 tablespoon of fresh cilantro, minced

½ tablespoon of canola oil to cook the cakes

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees to hold the corn fritters while you finish the over components of the meal.

Mix the dry ingredients and set them aside.

Combine the egg replacer and warm water and whisk to combine. Add ¼ cup of almond milk.

Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients and stir to form”pancake” dough. I keep my flour in the freezer so it tends to be more dry. While the original recipe called for ¼ cup of liquid I had to use ½ cup total liquid in my recipe tonight.

When the pancake batter is the correct consistency, add the corn kernels and cilantro and mix to combine.

Heat a cast iron pan until it reaches approximately 350 degrees. Add half the oil so that it lightly covers the bottom of the pan. Drop approximately 2 - 3 tablespoons of batter onto the pan for each fritter. I cooked 4 corn fritters in the pan at a time. Each fritter cooked for approximately 3 minutes per side. I removed them from the pan when they reached the appropriate golden color. Cook the final 4 fritters using the same method.

My fritters were the appropriate color on the outside but were not cooked completely through so I turned the oven to 350 degrees and baked the fritters for 15 minutes to ensure they were done.

Serve hot with a little salt and pepper to taste. I served my fritters with the corn and tomato salsa below.

Nutritional Information (assumes 2 servings):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 206.62
Calories From Fat (22%) - 45.07

Total Fat - 5.15g
Saturated Fat - 0.46g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 325.59mg
Potassium - 288.45mg
Total Carbohydrates - 37.58g
Fiber - 5.6g
Sugar - 1.58g
Protein - 6.27g

Corn and Tomato Salsa
Serves2

Ingredients:

½ red onion, finely minced
2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar
1 large red tomato, finely diced (approximately 2 cups)
1 cup of corn kernels, cut from the cob or frozen and defrosted
¼ cup of fresh cilantro, minced
¼ teaspoon of oregano, dried
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine the red onion and vinegar to reduce the sharpness of the onion. Allow the onion to sit in the vinegar at least 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and toss to coat. Taste for seasonings and correct before serving.

When you serve this salsa use a slotted spoon so most of the vinegar stays in the bowl.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 101.98
Calories From Fat (7%) - 7.47

Total Fat - 0.9g
Saturated Fat - 0.1g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 211.66mg
Potassium - 548.13mg
Total Carbohydrates - 23.7g
Fiber - 4.24g
Sugar - 6.07g
Protein - 3.71g

Comments:

The corn fritters turned out much better than I expected. When I make them the next time I will increase the cumin and oregano. I also may add a little drained shredded zucchini to the fritters. I think I would like the texture of the zucchini and the increase in vegetables in the fritter. If you have a few fat calories to spare cilantro oil drizzled over the top of the cakes would taste great and look nice.

The salsa was nice and refreshing. It would have been better with avocado, but I didn’t want to add the fat to dinner tonight. A little drizzle of oil would also have been nice in the salsa, but I didn’t add it for the same reason. Fresh diced cucumber or green pepper would have also been nice in the salsa if you have it handy.

Overall we were happy with the fritters and the resulting nutritional statistics.