I have already been raving about my crush on Mexican food ever since I opened that tiny tin of Chipotle chillies that Nupur got me. I don’t know if winter has officially set in, in Hyderabad or is it some random cyclone effect – but the mornings and evenings are chilly and the day is generally cloudy. I am not a big sun person, so this suits me just fine. More so, I can indulge in infinite cups of tea, drink big bowls of soup for dinner and my taste buds suddenly develop a liking for spicy stuff. “Bring back the Chili” said my tastebuds to me yesterday. And opposites attract, don’t they. What better way to complement the hot and flavour blasting chili than this mildly sweet cornbread, scented with cumin and coriander leaves?
I have baked cornbread some 3-4 times and this was THE. BEST. EVER. I am not exaggerating
Especially if you are someone who has shied away from baking this because you don’t eat eggs, you are in for a pleasant surprise. My husband quit eating eggs a few years ago and I am constantly figuring out ways to turn out decent baked stuff with replacements for egg and yesterday I hit gold. Flaxseed which is one of the best sources of Omega-3 for a vegetarian. You can buy the seeds and powder the quantity required for each recipe in a coffee grinder / chutney jar of mixer
For each egg to be replaced – use 1 tbsp flaxseed powder whisked into 3 tbsp of very hot water. You will get an emulsion like beaten eggs and use it at the stage of the recipe when it calls for eggs
This was most perfect match for the chili and I must add that my toddler son loved this too – in fact he was making it extremely difficult for me to take a picture, by digging his tiny fingers into it!
Recipe for Eggless Cornbread
Serves 3-4
Loosely adapted from Alton Brown’s Creamed Corn Cornbread recipe
In a large bowl, mix-
1 cup yellow cornmeal (Makkai ka atta)
1/2 cup all purpose flour (Maida)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
In a medium bowl, whisk well-
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp flaxseed powder whisked into 6 tbsp hot water
1/2 cup milk
Extras
2 tbsp finely chopped pickled jalapenos or 1 tsp finely chopped green chillies
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds for garnish (optional, but gives a nice look to the bread)
1/4 cup frozen corn kernels (gives a nice sweet crunch, but I did not have it on hand, so did not use)
Directions
Preheat the oven at 200C
Grease a loaf tin or line with tin foil
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry – till just combined and stir in the jalapenos, coriander leaves and corn kernels. I added a few spoons of the brine from pickled jalapenos as I found the mix somewhat dry. This gave a big flavour boost to the bread
Pour into greased loaf tin. Flatten lightly with wet fingers and bake for 20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean
Let it rest for 15-20 minutes outside, before slicing
Serve warm with chili. Recipe for chili posted here
Food shopping in Hyderabad
Flaxseed** also called Alsi in Hindi and Tashi in Bengali (knowledge shared by my twitter friends) is available with most grocers nowadays
In Hyderabad, you can buy it at –
Ratnadeep (Srinagar Colony / Madhapur)
Q Mart (Road no.2 Banjara Hills)
Hypercity (Inorbit Mall, Madhapur)
Fabindia outlets that stock food
Pickled Jalapenos** are available in all supermarkets. American Garden, Frigata are some of the good brands
(c) Nandita Iyer 2006-2015
looks yumm!
Never had cornbread until now, but your description is making me want to try it too.
bookmarked,my neighbor was telling me how much she loves cornbread jusat 2 days ago 🙂 got me thinking and now ur post! I have most of the ingredients, cept the flaxsed meal, will get that over the weekend.
Man! I am going to make this soon!
Don’t you mean “raving” and not “ranting”?
I used to be such a big follower of your blog, Its good to see you back.The corn bread looks well.
This is a great recipe – I am sure to try this …great option for vegos..!! Thanks
Thanks anon, you read me right, I indeed meant to say ‘raving’ – so thanks!
Cornbread is a fun ingredient to cook with…Very versatile and yet so yummy!!!Your addition of spices also look so yummy and very tasty. Shobha
Ms.Rani Kottayam,If you come here again, please do not bother leaving your rude, negative comments. I am not going to publish them. No one asked you to follow me on twitter or my blog. So bye. Hope you have good life.Thanking you,N
The corn bread is delicious. will try soon :). Flax seed is a very nice, healthy substitution. Thanks for the info about the stores of Hyd. I will pass that on to my mom. Hope all is well with you and kiddo N. :)Cheers,Siri
Honest to God, this was brilliant. The first savory bread I made, and that too to friends who were visiting, and it was brilliant! 🙂
This looks very delicious and tempting Nandita! Great Job!
Nandita, please let me know what I can sub for flaxseed meal.. i have just moved to a new city and am finding flaxseed meal a little difficult to procure 🙁
bookmarked…
Hello Nandita,i am one of your regular blog followers. We got our convection microwave finally and the fist thing i wanted to bake was bread 🙂 and this recepie of your beats the garlic bread too :)i had a question, how do i do the pre-heating in the microwave. this shall be my first baking experience ever, hence any input will be a great help.Regards,RJ
This is great! Ur recipes are always inspirational and this one is no different!Would be of great help if you could post your recipe for chilli too to go along!
Oops..just saw the chilli recipe too!!
Followed your recipe to a T and made cornbread yesterday. Came out well, was a big hit and will be a repeat dish in my kitchen. Thanks for sharing!
Hello Nandita! I have just found your blog 🙂 It is awesome!One question – what oven are you suing? I have that Indian style electric aliminium oven which has glass on the lid…Will it work to bake bread in it? Thanks!
Hi Nandita,I followed your recipe (with a few minor changes) and out came the most delicious corn bread i ever tasted! I wanted to tag you (saffron trail) in my facebook photo of the corn bread, but somehow that didn’t work.I didn’t have flax seeds at home, so I added 1/4th cup of sour cream and baked for 30 minutes, for a soft light spicy cornbread.Thanks!