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Recipe

Pergedel jagung

Corn fritters bound with egg and a spoon of fried base genep, fried in coconut oil until the edges crisp. A market-corn dish from the Petulu class.

All recipes·Serves 12 small fritters·Prep 20 minutes·Cook 15 minutes

A guest stir-frying at a wok in a village kitchen

Pergedel jagung is a corn fritter, not a potato croquette. The kernels stay whole enough to bite. Egg and a little flour hold them, and fried base genep is what makes them Balinese rather than a plain corn cake.

Use corn cut from the cob when the market has it. Canned kernels work once they are drained and patted dry. Wet corn spits in the oil and never crisps.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 3 cobs), or drained canned corn, well dried
  • 2 tablespoons fried base genep
  • 1 egg
  • 2 shallots, finely sliced
  • 1 bird’s eye chili, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons rice flour or plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon chopped palm sugar
  • Salt
  • Coconut oil, for shallow frying

Method

  1. Mix the corn, fried base genep, egg, shallot, chili, flour, palm sugar, and salt. The batter should cling to the kernels. If it puddles, add a little more flour, not more egg.
  2. Heat a shallow layer of coconut oil in a wok until a drop of batter sizzles at once.
  3. Spoon in heaped tablespoons, leaving space. Fry until the underside is deep gold, then turn. Crowded fritters steam.
  4. Drain on a rack, not a heap of paper, so the edges stay crisp. Eat the same day with rice and sambal. They soften if they sit covered.

On a class morning the corn is bought with the chilies. The fritters come out of the wok while the rice finishes, and they sit on the same plate as sayur urap.