Corn on the Cob – Indian Style

One of my favorite ways of eating corn!

Let me take that back, actually, this is tops in my book for eating corn.

I prefer the taste of it when it’s cooked on a charcoal grill, but I have also prepared it on a gas grill.

Back in India, we usually have vendors go around in their wooden carts with a small, homemade clay grill and a bunch of corn with husks stacked on the top of it. Whenever anyone wants to buy the corn, the low embers of coal are topped with more coal in the homemade clay or iron basin used as the grill. Some vendors even use a cut-out square of iron mesh on top to separate the corn from the embers. The husk and any corn silk is stripped from the cob. Using a piece of cardboard, the vendor fans the flames with one hand, while carefully rotating the corn to ensure that it’s cooked evenly. He then cuts a lime or lemon in half and rubs it all over the cob. A mixture of salt, pepper, red pepper, and sometimes black salt is then sprinkled on top and lightly rubbed in with the cut lime or lemon.

Yummy!

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Corn on the Cob - Indian Style

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Equipment

• 1 barbecue grill

Ingredients

• 8 cobs corn
• 1 lemon or lime (cut in half)
• salt, red chili powder, and pepper (to your taste)

Instructions 

• Shuck the corn (use only fresh, not frozen), and place the cleaned corn on top of the grill over medium heat.
• Let the cobs sit until you hear the corn start to pop, about 8-10 minutes. With BBQ tongs, keep rotating the cobs. It chars a bit. The whole process should take less than 10 minutes. It takes longer if you're using a gas grill.
• Now rub half cut lime or lemon all over the corn.
• In a bowl, put a mixture of salt and pepper and some paprika or cayenne powder, if you like it spicy.
• Dip the flat end of the lime in the mixture and rub it over the corn. The smoky flavor of the grilled corn combined with the tangy lime and spices is delicious.
• If you do not like lime, then top it with butter and sprinkle the corn with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Notes

You can roast corn on a gas stove, but it takes much longer. I fare better using the gas stove with a perforated tortilla warmer, but it is messy and tedious.

Course: Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: corn, barbecue

Thank you for the beautiful photos:
Photo by Robert Krčmar on Unsplash
Photo by Andre Ouellet on Unsplash