A few days back, I posted a piece that touched very briefly on one of my favorite meals–pan-seared corn cakes– which, in my home, recently provided two meals for two people at an approximate cost of 27 cents per cake, or thereabouts. We had two of these each with a salad and a glass of Gruner Veltliner for dinner; next morning, we reheated the leftovers and topped them with a perfectly poached egg. Delicious, simple, flavorful, and even relatively healthy (compared to the aforementioned Cassoulet). If we didn’t want the leftovers in cake form, we would have crumbled them back into a stick-proof pan, heated them through, and wrapped them up in toasted flatbread.
Cakes–black bean cakes, corn cakes, lentil cakes, garbanzo bean cakes, white bean cakes–are among the dishes that I’ve always had a not-so-small crush on; for one thing, they take about five seconds to throw together (if you use canned beans, which I do when I’m in a rush). For another, they can be spiced and tweaked in virtually any direction you want to take them in: I’m a south Asian food fanatic, so I like mine with a hint of tamarind, a diced hot pepper, and a sprinkling of chaat masala–the most amazing compliment to corn I’ve ever encountered, and which I first read about in Suvir Saran’s American Masala (Suvir sprinkles it on freshly cooked ears of corn, which he then drizzles with lime juice). But if you don’t like Indian food, you can easily take these Mediterranean, with garlic, shallot, a bit of chopped tomato, or even a scraping of lemon zest and a drop of olive oil. However you want them — Indian, Mexican, Asian, Italian — cakes are a Poor Man’s Feast staple. Best of all? They freeze really well, and travel from home to office to toaster oven or microwave very easily.
Quick Indian-Spiced Corn Cakes
