Sweet Corn Chowda

While browsing the web a few nights ago, I ran into this recipe. It's an indo-chinese sweet corn soup. I don't know much about indo-chinese foods, so I don't know if it is good or not but I know for what I was craving, it was lacking something. Coincidentally, a few days ago I picked up more corn than I usually do. It was local and on sale! So I knew I had to make an adaptation for tonight.

Sweet Corn Chowder 

Feeds: 2
Cooking time with prep: ~30 min.

You'll need:

3 ears of corn
half stalk of celery
2 spring onions
2 tbl corn starch in 4 tbl water
salt, pepper, smoked paprika (optional) , white pepper (optional), or cayenne (optional)
1 cup milk (I used unsweetened plain almond milk)
1 cup water (best to use the water your corn was boiled in) or veg stock
olive oil or coconut oil for a quick sauté

Prep:

Before you compose your chowder you'll need to boil or steam your ears of corn. I boiled them until they were tender. I let them finish in a pot of hot water while I finished prepping my veg.

I diced both the onions (using both green and white parts) and celery. You'll need roughly 2 tbl of celery and onion. You can do more onion to your taste preference, but I wouldn't suggest any more celery, since it has a strong flavour.

When your corn is done cooking and cooled down a bit, scrape the kernels from the cob. Puree about 2/3 of the kernels with a little water and set aside. Leave the other 1/3 whole. This is going to add great texture to your soup.

Prep your starch/water mix here too. In a small bowl mix 2 tbl corn starch with 4 tbl water. Mix well.

Compose:

Heat a medium soup pot (it needs to be able to hold about 3 cups of liquid) with your cooking oil of choice. You'll only need about 2 tbl of oil on a medium low heat.

Sauté your green onions until they turn a bright emerald color, roughly 2 min. Making sure to stir them around, you'll want to keep them moving.

Add the celery and sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes. Then add your corn puree, making sure to stir everything together. Add your 1 cup milk and 1 cup corn water/stock and season with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, cayenne, or white pepper to taste and bring to a boil.

Let it boil for roughly 2-3 min and then add your kernels, making sure to return your soup to a boil. Cook for an additional 2-3 min.

Turn down your heat to low and add your starch/water mix (mix it well before you add it). You'll want to let this thicken for a bit. I cooked it an additional 5 - 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve: 

Ladle into your favorite bowl and enjoy! I topped mine with a little dollop of sour cream but you can keep it vegan and add a little chopped green onion. I also paired my chowder with some steamed kale. About half way through eating, I put all my kale in with the chowder and devoured it.

Lately I've been about calorie counting and trying to shed some pounds, so I entered this on myfitnesspal and it totaled in around 296 kcal per serving. This can be altered by the amount of oil you use.