Indo Chinese Crispy Baby Corn Chilli with sesame seeds

I only recently started using baby corn as a staple in my kitchen. About for two years. Since I am married to a vegetarian ( No eggs even ! Yeah, no eggs! ), I constantly look for new vegetables to cook with. My husband really is not that fond of baby corn, but this dish , he just gobbles up. This is a fairly simple dish, a small list of ingredients and not a lot of technique involved . The flavors and cooking style is a rip off the Chinese stir fry . It has got the classic balance of sweet, salty and spice. Its very playful on the palate and here I cannot fight the urge to quote the movie "American Psycho" and call it "a playful little dish" ( please read this in Christian Bale's voice ). As I said , there is not a lot of technical points to remember while making this dish, but to enjoy it at its best, here are a few tips:

1. Baby Corn is a vegetable best enjoyed at its freshest. The sugars in the corn will start converting into starch the moment it is detached from its parent plant and the sweetness  will start to fade . This process is slowed down at a low temperature . So , if you are not using it straight away, store your baby corn in the fridge.
2. Do not overcook (Never overcook anything ! You will ruin it )This recipe uses thrice cooked method- Parboiling, frying and then stir frying. Go a little overboard with one of them and you better throw your baby corn out of that kitchen window of yours.The best texture is when the baby corn is a little crisp on the exterior and has a crunch when you bite into it. This vegetable is naturally water retenant, since the core has a lot of water in it , so there is really not a lot  of ways you can dry it out too much (well  if you leave it in the oven for 4 hours , you may succeed) but overcooking will ruin the texture.
3.  Drying and Frying correctly- This is imporatnt, If you want to avoid soggy baby corn. When you parboil the baby corn , it WILL absorb water. You must dry the pieces before frying. Please don't be lazy and skip this. Use paper towels. Get as much water out of it as possible. This will ensure the pieces will not  turn out soggy. Frying these  correctly is equally important. Your oil needs to be hot and has to continue to be hot. Do not overcrowd the pan . This will bring the temperature of the oil down and the oil will absorb into the vegetable and result in a soggy piece rather than a crisp piece .

Recipe : Crispy Babycorn Chilli with sesame 

Quisine  : Indo Chinese 

Prep time : 10 mins (only chopping and cutting, this can stretch upto 15 mins if your knife skills are like mine )

Cooking time : 25 mins

Serves : 3-4 

Course : Starter / Entree ( Goes extremely well with drinks as said by my husband )

Ingredients :

• 1 + 1/4 cup baby corn
• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 1/8 cup rice flour
• 1/8 cup  corn flour
• salt and pepper to season
• flavorless oil for deep frying and later stir frying
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/4 tsp minced garlic
• 1tsp julienned ginger
• 1/4 cup chopped capsicum/ bell pepper
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce 
• 2 tsp sugar 
• 3 green chillies , chopped 
• 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Procedure :   

1. Cut the baby corn into 1 inch pieces . For the fatter ones , slit through the middle and then cut it.
2. Boil a pot of water, add a generous pinch of salt and 2 tsp of sugar. Add the baby corn and boil on high for 5 mins. Remove from heat, drain and dry thoroughly.
3. Take a large bowl, add the flours , salt and pepper. Whisk. Add the baby corn and coat. Shake excess flour off.
4. Heat a wok/ kadai and add oil. Fry the baby corn in batches . Donot overcrowd the pan. You will end up with soggy baby corn. Fry until lightly golden and remove on a kitchen towel.
5. Heat about a tbsp of oil in the wok. Add the garlic and ginger , saute for 30 secs on high. Add the onion and saute on medium for 2 mins . Add the capsicum and saute for a minute ( No more ! You don't want to eat an overcooked capsicum)
6. Add the baby corn, soy sauce, salt and pepper.
7. Add green chillies .
8. Add 1+1/2 tsp of sesame . Stir for 10 secs on high.
9. Serve immediately (this is no good at room temperature, cold is even worse), garnished with the rest of the sesame seeds.