whilst on my epic shopping trip this weekend just gone (epic in the sense that it was epically far away and epically difficult at one point to find anything i was looking for!) i picked up a bag of maiz (maize flour) as i have become so intrigued by latin american and mexican cooking.





when i got home from work today i started straight off googling some fab maize flour recipes - but was only given the options of tortillas or corn chips... and without an oven or a griddle this left me a bit stuck. so when i thought about the ingredient itself - it texture, cooking potential etc i thought of corn jacks (those crispy, hugely unhealthy, deep-fried 'battons' that tast so good!)





inspired by the idea of the corn jack i hit the kitchen and whipped up a polenta-like batter which i seasoned with some spicy chilli powder, salt, pepper and a bit of sugar. the result... an absolute success!





how?





1 1/2 cups of maize flour

1/2 cup of plain flour

1 litre of water

salt and pepper to season

1 tablespoon of sugar

2 teaspoons of chilli powder or spicy paprika (or to suit the desired level of heat)

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

vegetable oil for frying





bring the water to the boil in a saucepan. slowly add the plain flour and half of the corn flour, whisking constantly to form a thick porridge-like consistency. once all the flour has incorporated add the salt, pepper, chilli powder, sugar and baking powder and mix to combine. cook for 5 minutes. remove from the heat and add the remaining maize flour to form a thick 'dough'. set aside to cool slightly.



