Purple corn, did you know it was a thing? I didn't until I recent went to nuts.com to order bulk ranch powder and stumbled onto it. I love nuts.com beause they have products you can't find anywhere else and at a reasonable price too. This time I ordered my bulk ranch dressing powder, poppy seeds, the purple corn, and flour made from coffee. Can't wait to try them all out.. and to tell you all about them too.
In this large family it makes sense to order ranch powder in bulk because it goes well with, and cuts the heat of the Franks Red hot, and as I have mentioned in other posts "we put that shit on everything".
I'll update you on the other products as I use them, but today we made purple corn cornbread, that I served with black beans and ham hocks, There were NO LEFTOVERS, which always leaves me doing a victory dance.
My three year old granddaughter was my assistant today and a great help making the purple cornbread.
It was fun, and I think educational too, she got to watch corn turn into cornmeal, and then into cornbread, and she helped make all that magic happen. How awesome is that?
So we started off with the dried purple corn kernels and ground them in my ninja food processor until they were a powder consistency. She got to push the button on the ninja, Buttons are the best aren't they?
and then we sifted out all the large pieces
The larger pieces we sifted out and put back through the ninja one more time and sifted again. What was left after the second sifting we threw in with the goodies the chickens got tonight. Because we are busy women and didn't have time for a third go-round in the ninja, Plus according to clarissa the ninja was so loud we couldn't hear ourselves think.
Next we mixed up all the ingredients for our cornbread
(recipe at bottom of page)
when we had it all mixed up we greased our cast iron skillet, I like to use cooking oil or butter, as opposed to cooking pray for cornbread because it gives it a crispier edge that I enjoy.
Then we popped it in the oven until it was done. I have to add that its hard to tell when its done because normally you would wait for it to get golden brown, but if it even got brown you would not know because this cornbread is already dark in color. I'm sad to say our cornbread did not look purple like I thought it would when it was done. It looked more black, or chocolate in color. But it was still the yummiest, flakiest, most moist cornbread I have ever put in my mouth.
here is what it looked like after baking
Next time I will try mixing this cornmeal with some yellow cornmeal so we can hopefully get the fun purple color I was hoping for, but this was still fun and a learning experience, We learned that this corn only grows in Peru, and that it is high in antioxidents, and is considered a "super food", and that if not mixed with a lighter colored ingredient, it looks more black than purple. We (Ryan) will be learning what makes this corn purple and writing a report on it. We learned measurements and the chemistry of mixing and cooking ingredients and even though our cornbread was too dark to call purple it was the most delicious cake like cornbread I have ever put in my mouth. I fully believe this purple cornmeal could be used in a brownie recipe or chocolate cake recipe and totally rock.
and now for what you came here for...
The purple corn, cornbread recipe
***note***
I would recommend letting your cornbread mixture sit after all ingredient are mixed together in fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking as you are working with dry ingredients that need a little reconstituting and a food processor doesn't grind it all to the same consistency.
Purple Cornbread Recipe
1 1/2 cups dried purple corn kernels
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 stick butter
1/4 cup cooking oil
grind dried corn kernels in food processor until the cosistancy of cornmeal and the sift to separate fine chunks of purple corn from larger chunks, repeat process in food processor or larger piece and sift again. Disgaurd any remaining large parts that wont fall through the sifter
add all dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt and whisk until all dry ingredients are mixed well.
in separate bowl whisk together milk, melted butter and and eggs and then add to dry ingredients
mix with whisk or fork or mixer until blended well
add oil to a cast iron skillet and swirl to coat bottom
add cornbread mixture and put into 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until toothpick stuck into center comes out clean
let cool 10 minutes before serving
***note***
this cornbread is delicious, and moist, and flakey, but it naturally has a slight fruity flavor to it so you may want to mix it half purple cornmeal and half yellow cornmeal for a more cornbread-y experience. But if you enjoy sweet and fruit in a cornbread them go for it because this just was awesome...
I've made the purple corn cornbread twice now. I make it as Paleo friendly as possible using coconut sugar and Paleo flour as well as ghee. We love it and will have it often. Being from the South, one must made good cornbread and this has turned out to be the best I've made!!!
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