Cornbread

When I was a kid, my mom was a great breakfast maker.  A family favorite was “Johnny Cake” – cornbread on which we would spread butter and pour maple syrup.  My husband is a big fan of cornbread, corn muffins, cornmeal pancakes and cornmeal scones, so I always have cornmeal in the kitchen.  We are housesitting and I couldn’t find a small enough baking dish for a single batch recipe… but I do have my cast iron skillets!  I’ve never made “skillet cornbread” (more of a southern thang)… I gave it a try, and it came out beautifully!

Ayurveda Stats…Corn is a stable grain of ancient north, south & central America Both ancient American folklore and modern archaeology trace the birth of corn close to the beginning of creation.  In the vedic tradition, corn relates to the moon, the planet that is closely connected with mother & nourishment.  Corn is light, warming, dry and rough.  As such, it balances the damp, cold and soft qualities of kapha and is a great grain to emphasize on cold and damp days. Of course, though corn can balance excess kapha, baked goods in general should be enjoyed in moderation. This particular recipe is not too sweet, and is particularly fine for kapha types if made vegan and gluten free! ***Pitta & Pitta-Vata types might also consider blue corn – a slightly coolor and damper form of corn, which can be replaced, cup-for-cup in recipes.

My cornbread recipe is egg-free & easily made gluten free (scroll down for my favorite gluten-free flour).  It’s vegan if you use almond milk instead of cow’s milk.  I have made this for my non-health-conscious brother, and he says it’s “better than Mom’s”.

Ingredients

1 Cup Corn Meal

1 Cup all purpose flour OR Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Flour (see my favorite brand below)

1 and ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1/4 C Sunflower Oil

1/4 C Maple Syrup

1 Cup Organic Cow’s Milk or Almond milk or combo or whole milk yogurt + water

(for a sweeter batch, increase the maple syrup & reduce the milk) ***Add about 1/4 extra of this milky liquid for the skillet version!

Regular Baking Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine dry ingredients

Combine wet ingredients

Mix together. It should not be as runny as pancake batter, or as thick as biscuit dough – somewhere in between. Add more milk as needed.

Pour into an oiled baking dish (or muffin tins)

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Skillet Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine dry ingredients

Combine wet ingredients – ADD a little extra milk (say 1/4 cup) to make it more pourable! It should not be as runny as pancake batter, or as thick as biscuit dough – somewhere in between but a little closer to pancake batter for the skillet. Add more milk as needed.

Mix together.

Warm the skillet on the stove, with 2 TB oil (grapeseed or sunflower is best)

Pour in the cornbread batter and cook on the stovetop for 1.5 min on med-high heat.

Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake 20 min (or until golden grown)

The edges should be crispy!

I served the skillet cornbread with sesame carrots & asparagus with parsley.

Here’s my favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour… maybe be hard to find (I got it at a specialty gluten-free shop, and never see it at wholefoods) but you can order it online.  Look for any brand that uses tapioca, rice and / or nut flours.  Avoid the brands that use bean flour (chickpea or pinto bean for example) as that much bean is difficult to digest, particularly for those with excess dryness in their constitution (vata).