In light of this long weekend I have yet another recipe to share with you all that can be a nice addition to your BBQ or gathering this weekend. Balal in Farsi means corn.
One of the many food memories that I have from Iran is the ever present food vendors on the side of the streets who sold corn and beets. These two vegetables to this day are favorites of mine and I only like them the way Persians make them. I love corn, but I HATE the way it is served in restaurants here in the US. I remember the first time I was served corn with butter. I just stared at it in disbelief. I am a fan of butter, don’t get me wrong, but butter and corn have never grown on me, nor has boiled corn.
I love the way Persians make corn because it holds its sweet taste and it is crunchy. Much to my excitement, The Sous Chef, who doesn’t care much for corn, loves to eat corn this way. He wanted to part of it when I first told him I was going to make corn on the cob. Then he took a bite, and the rest is history.
Follow me and I will show you how we Persians make corn! It is so simple and easy to make.
Ingredients:
Corn on the cob
Salt
Hot water
Look at these three pretty corns, I bought them from the Farmer’s Market.
I love shopping at the Farmer’s Market because, if you are lucky, sometimes you will find little friends inside your produce. Look at this guy hanging out and feasting! I decided to name him Cornus. He kept me company while I was cooking. He was fun to hang out with.
Select a bowl or a container where you can submerge the entire corn. I decided to use our carafe because it is long. Place 2 tbsp of sea salt in the carafe.
Fill up carafe with hot water half way through. Mix until water and salt are well incorporated. Just in case you are wondering, yes, I love all things moo moo. I found this Cow Kettle many years ago at Marshall’s. There was only one there and I never saw one again. It was such a good bargain too. But then again I would have paid a non-bargain price for it too because it was too cute to pass up.
Back to business. You can either grill the corn or just place on top of you burner. Either way is fine.
Make sure that you turn the corn every few minutes of even cooking on each side. The color of the corn will change to a deep yellow. It goes pretty quickly so make sure that you keep an eye on it so that the corn doesn’t burn. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes.
Once your corn is ready, submerge the whole thing in the water for a few seconds then remove. I know this sounds strange if you are non-Persian, but trust me, it is so good this way. Once you take the corn out, the water will evaporate pretty fast as not only is the corn hot, but also the water is warm.
If you are fancy, insert corn holders on the end of your corn and serve them just like that. I received these moo moo corn holders from my dear friend Irene about 10 years ago as a Christmas gift after she was my matching moo moo print snickers and hangbag. You can purchase your very own Cow Corn Holders on Amazon as well. 🙂
Cornus turned out to be such an adventurous buddy. As you can see he decided to go explore his surroundings. I later saw that he had chewed a hole to escape out of the bag that I had thrown him in with the husks in the trash can. He was one hell of a trooper that Cornus, I tell ya!
September 5, 2009
OO this corn looks fresh and tasty. I am going to try this next time we find corn at our market. And I love how you appreciate finding the little living things in your fresh produce! To me that’s a sign that it’s real food, and not over processed. 🙂 Thanks for sharing this, and your other recipes as well. I have just started exploring Persian cooking in depth, and was really glad to find your blog.
September 5, 2009
May be it’s the persian way but it looks like a lot to the aztec way!
The only addition is to sprinkle the corncob with lime juice, chile piquin and salt or any combination thereof.
The second, delicious, way of cooking corn is “esquites asados”, as shown in the following recipe:
http://tlazolteotl.blogspot.com/2009/06/esquites-asados.html
Ciao!
Tlaz
September 5, 2009
Tlaz,
il mais con il succo di lime and chile e’ molto buono. O anche sulla frutta che i fruttivendoli vendono per strada e’ molto buono e rinfrescante. Devo provare la tua ricetta, appare buonissima. 🙂
September 5, 2009
Gail,
thank you for your kind words. I totally love finding little bugs, it is yet another reminder that food travels a short distance from the farm to the farmer’s markets. Keep me posted on your Persian cooking adventures!!!! 🙂
October 4, 2009
Wow! your blog has exploded! I love it, as soon as I saw the picture of the kabob corn, I had to have one, thank god I bought 4 from the farmer’s market today. Congratulation, I love everything about your blogg. By the way, couldn’t find the quiz, where is it?
October 4, 2009
Aww thank you Shohreh Joon. I have been a busy bee! The contest is in the Squash Kuku post from Squash week. 🙂
November 9, 2009
My sister showed me this blog yesterday; I’ve been reading back through every entry. I’m glad it’s not just my friends who think it’s weird when I tell them about grilled corn in salt water. It’s always the same, though: they are weirded out, and then they try and it and they’re hooked.
November 9, 2009
You are definitely not the only one Darius!
January 29, 2010
thanks for the memories !
June 14, 2010
Great recipe! I grilled the corn and my husband said it tasted like his childhood in Iran. Thank you!
September 4, 2011
Loved this recipe, used this eve to much acclaim; thanks! Not as good as I remember from my youth in Tehran, but I think that had to do with the wrong kind of grill.
Best-pete