Vietnamese corn, coconut, and tapioca dessert soup (Che Bap)

I'm circling back to corn.  As I mentioned, seeing and tasting the amazing fresh corn available right now had me thinking about different ways of cooking with it.  One of the things that popped into my head was the memory of a Vietnamese cooking show I'd seen where the host was scraping corn and using the corn milk to make some kind of sweet dessert soup (I don't remember what it was exactly).  That got me searching for Vietnamese dessert soups featuring corn and I ended up here with a delicious one, called "Che Bap" ("che" refers to a sweet dessert soup or pudding, and "bap" means corn).  

A chilled dessert soup, made with fresh corn kernels, light coconut milk, tapioca pearls, and topped with toasted sesame seeds

Dessert soups are very common and beloved in Asian culture - both hot and cold.  Once in a while, you might find an Asian dessert house that serves only that.  I love nearly all varieties of these soups and I can now add this one to the list!   

So this isn't the recipe I vaguely recall from the cooking program but I'm happy that it inspired this discovery.  This Vietnamese corn pudding, or dessert soup, features fresh corn kernels as well as coconut milk and small tapioca pearls.  When I hear there's coconut milk involved in a dessert soup, I'm fairly confident it's going to be good.  In fact, coconut milk and tapioca pearls make a great base for many kinds of dessert soups.

I used light coconut milk in this recipe.  It may sound silly but I'm quite proud of that because I did it despite seeing recipes that specifically said not to.  I'm a very reluctant rule-breaker, you see!  I used Trader Joe's light coconut milk, which I really like and have had a lot of success cooking with.  It's not as thick and rich as regular coconut milk but it's still so flavorful and fragrant.  And get this: you're consuming 70% less fat and 65% less calories by using the light version!  I didn't miss the extra fat at all, and you're not sacrificing flavor or texture.  In fact, you don't feel weighed down after eating this.

I had some tapioca starch on standby in case I needed to thicken the soup with a slurry.  I decided I didn't need it and I'm glad I held back.  The soup is relatively thin when it's hot off the stove but this kind of soup made with coconut milk and tapioca pearls thickens pretty significantly after it's been refrigerated.  While you can certainly enjoy this hot or warm (both good), I prefer it cold in this instance.  It is summer, after all.  

After it's chilled, the soup is thick but not so thick that you need to dilute it with water (what you'd likely need to do if you went with the full-fat coconut milk...so you see, the light version actually works better!).  I wasn't sure I'd like the toasted sesame seeds suggested as a topping for this che bap but I did.  It adds a nice nuttiness to the sweet soup.  And this is indeed a lovely dessert soup, mostly sweetened by the fresh corn kernels.  The natural sweetness from the fresh corn was seriously intense!

All that corn...

I've got fresh corn on the brain lately.  All year round, I keep frozen corn (and peas) in my freezer and I love heating some up to eat with my lunch.  But this time of year, it's all about the fresh stuff. Since I live in New Jersey, you know there's plenty of "Jersey fresh corn" to be had and no excuse not to take advantage of it.

Of course, I love the simplicity of just eating corn-on-the-cob and I may throw together a succotash if I have some other fixings around.  But walking around the farmer's market and seeing the mounds of fresh corn all around had me wanting to find some different ways of cooking with it.

So I spotted a little recipe for fresh corn cakes in the latest issue of Cooking Light magazine (real time cooking again!) and that's what I decided to make with some of the corn I picked up at Sunday's farmer's market.  I used the yellow-and-white variety...I know that white kernels are supposed to be sweeter but I love the cheerfulness of the bright yellow ones and bi-color corn seems to be the best of both worlds to me.  

Silver dollar corn cakes: made with cornmeal, buttermilk, and plenty of fresh sweet corn

These little silver dollar corn cakes are easily made with cornmeal, some flour, a little baking powder, buttermilk, and the star of the show: fresh corn kernels.  Some scallions add a little color and savoriness and I tossed in a little paprika and white pepper to balance out some of the sweetness.  And speaking of sweetness - I could hardly believe there was just a teaspoon of sugar in my batch of about a dozen-and-a-half corn cakes!  It was so sweet, thanks to that delicious fresh, sweet corn.

This reminds me that fresh corn - at their peak like this - is good even eaten raw, maybe tossed in a salad.  I served my silver dollar fresh corn cakes for Sunday night dinner with some pork tenderloin and roasted fingerling potatoes.  

Dinner last Sunday night