Creamed corn is a classic American dish – quite literally, as it has its roots in Native American cooking. It’s now most closely associated with Midwestern and Southern homestyle cuisine, where it’s typically made with some kind of dairy ingredient plus seasonings. We’ve even made our own version previously. If you’re trying to eat vegan, or you’re just not into heavy vegetable dishes, you might assume that creamed corn is off the table, but we’re here to tell you that you have alternatives! We recently discovered this recipe in Bon Appétit, which subs in coconut milk for regular milk and butter, and incorporates a few other interesting ingredients as well. We came up with our own version and discovered that this made for a nice vegan lunch for us recently, since it was light and pretty easy to whip up in the middle of a work-from-home day.
To make this, you’ll need:
- A 10-ounce package of frozen corn
- Olive oil
- A jalapeño
- Ginger
- Garlic
- A scallion
- Turmeric
- Pearled couscous
- A 13.5-ounce can of coconut milk
- Potato sticks
- A lime
First, defrost your corn, and while you’re waiting start cooking your couscous by pouring 1/3 cup of the couscous and 1/2 cup water into a small saucepan and bringing everything to a boil, then simmer and cook for 6 minutes. Now you can slice your jalapeño into thin strips and slice your garlic and scallion thinly as well, then cut off a 2-inch piece of ginger, peel it, and also slice it into thin strips. Warm a tablespoon of oil in a skillet with high sides over medium heat and add in the jalapeño, garlic, scallions, and ginger and cook for 2 minutes, then stir in 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric. Add in the corn and cook for another few minutes.
When the couscous is done, mix it in and cook briefly.
Measure out 1/2 cup of coconut milk and pour it into the pan, let it come to a gentle boil, and then simmer for about 5 minutes.
Then you can serve the corn, topped with the potato sticks, some extra coconut milk drizzled over everything, and lime wedges on the side.
Seriously, it’s super easy. There’s a little bit of vegetable prep at the beginning, but not much, and then it’s just a matter of sautéing and simmering. The end result is a corn that’s creamy but still vegan, with some interesting flavors mixing together from the ginger, garlic, scallion, turmeric, coconut milk, lime and jalapeño, plus some crunch thanks to the potato sticks. This is something you can easily put together in between your Zoom calls, and it’s a healthy, veggie-centric dish that’s great in the middle of the day. So lest you thought that creamed corn was only a casserole to grace your Thanksgiving table, this recipe shows you can shake it up and enjoy some rich creamy corn in a totally vegan way.