Tod Man Khao Pod

These Thai sweetcorn fritters are an incredibly tasty snack. This recipe makes enough for about 12 fritters but they are so delicious they'll be gobbled up in no time so you may want to double the quantities!

Ingredients
makes about 12
300g sweetcorn kernels, (fresh is best but frozen will do)
100g rice flour (or plain wheat flour)
2 eggs
1 tsp white sugar
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp red curry paste (see below)
vegetable oil for frying

for the red curry paste
4 Thai red chilies, de-seeded (or dried red chillies, rehydrated) 
2 tbsp shallots, sliced
3 tbsp garlic, sliced
2 tablespoon lemon grass, thinly sliced
2 tsp galangal, thinly sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons coriander root, finely sliced (or ground coriander seeds)
1/2 tsp fresh kaffir lime rind, finely sliced (or dried kaffir lime leaf, rehydrated)


Method

In a pestle & mortar bash together the red curry paste ingredients into a ...well, a paste. Begin with the lemongrass, then add each ingredient one by one, leaving the softer garlic and onion until last.

Carefully remove the corn kernels from the cob, preferably by hand rather than with a knife.

In a bowl, add the sweetcorn, rice flour, eggs, red curry paste, sugar and lime leaves. Mix well into a thick batter.

Bring a pan of vegetable oil to a high temperature and drop in rounded tablespoons of the batter.  Deep-fry about three at a time.  They should cook to a golden brown colour within 2 minutes.  (They could also be shallow fried if you prefer.)

Drain on kitchen paper then allow to dry slightly on a cooling rack.

Serve warm with some sweet chilli dipping sauce.