Corn on the cob in a coconut curry (Makai Paka)

 This was delicious, BUT the original recipe is very lengthy and not very good for you.  The original recipe is from the Mumbai Modern cookbook by Amisha Dodhia Gurbani.

I'll give the recipe we used, and then our ideas for what we'd like to try next time...

Boil corn:  Cut corn on cob into 4-5 pieces per ear, (about 2" long each).  Boil corn for 10 minutes.  Remove, but reserve the corn boiling water.

Roast + Grind peanuts:  Roast 1 cup (130 g) peanuts.  Let cool. Grind to a powder in food processor. Set aside.

Prepare fresh coconut:  Use wine corkscrew to puncture hole to coconut middle in the softest of the three germination holes (which should be evident).  Drain the coconut water (Drink!).  Holding coconut in one hand, use the back side of a heavy knife or cleaver to hit it firmly in the middle while rotating so you hit all around the circumference.  Hit hard and repeatedly.  You should see a crack start to form.  Keep going for ~ 1 min until coconut breaks in half.  Use a butter knife (be careful) to insert between flesh and outer shell, and jimmy around until fresh is freed.  Use a peeler to peel away any thing undesired from the outside of the flesh.  Rinse.  Then you can grate with a cheese grater.  This recipe uses 1/2 cup grated.

Prepare tomato mixture:  In the food processor, blend 3 small to medium tomatoes, 1 green chili, 1 inch ginger (~ 3 tsp ginger paste).  (I worry that fresh ginger won't blend well unless you pre-grate it).

Fry onion:  Heat 4 Tbsp vegetable oil on medium.  After 30 sec, add 1.5 tsp cumin seeds, and pinch asafoetida.  After about 20 seconds more (when seeds start sputtering) add 1 diced red onion.  Saute on low for about 10 minutes until onion is golden brown.

After onion is browned, add the tomato mixture and saute for 1 min.  Add 1 tsp turmric, 1.5 tsp chili paste (not cayenne), 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp garam masala, and 1/2 - 2 tsp salt (we used 1 tsp).  Add 3 Tbsp tomato paste. Saute for 2 minutes, stirring to incorporate and breaking up the tomato paste.  If curry every becomes too dry, add 1/2 cup of the corn water.

Add the ground peanuts and 1.5 cups coconut milk (from a can).  Cook another 2 minutes, stirring to combine.

Add boiled corn and cover with the curry.  Cover and let cook 7-9 minutes.  Garnish with cilantro and you're done!

* * * 

For next time:

- Fresh coconut seems mostly for texture.  I think you could omit it entirely or use frozen grated.

- It would be nice to add something else to round it out.  We later added diced chicken, but I imagine tofu would work, or something else?  Chickpea?

- Instead of roasting + grinding our own peanuts, I'm interested in whether peanut butter could be subbed.