Summer Corn and Chicken Pizza with White Sauce

If you have been around my blog, you know that I love to garden. It’s a hobby that provides a feeling of accomplishment and reward when you can eat what you have grown with your own hands. So, a bit of plant magic happened in my garden with the appearance of purple corn.

I have grown up eating yellow corn/bhutta all my life and I love eating it so I grow one or two rows of corn almost every year. This year too I planted a few seedlings of yellow corn purchased from a local nursery. After about a month I noticed the stalks turning purple, and then when the tassels also turned green and purple it totally baffled me. I searched on the internet as why my corn plants were turning purple? To my surprise, I found a ton of information on purple coloration and much of what I learned was that it was not concerning. The purple color could be a lack of phosphorous uptake from the soil caused by stress or simply be a genetic trait that won’t affect performance. Usually, nutrient-depleted soil affects every plant that is growing in it. However, my green beans, tomatoes, and eggplants were doing extremely well in the same soil. So, this concluded that the purple color in my corn plants was a matter of genetics. But still until last week I had no clue that the ears of corn would have purple kernels too.

I noticed some of the ears looked plump while others were still skinny, the silk had turned brown and the husk was drying out. I pulled back the husks from one of the ears and found this eye catching beauty. Purple corn is something I have never seen or grown before. I got too excited and immediately plucked it. I couldn’t believe my eyes that I had grown purple corn.  When I searched online for recipes I only found information about it being made into a drink called ‘Chicha Morada’ and a ‘Sweet pudding’. There were a few other recipes but they  used purple corn flour and not purple corn kernels. I  asked friends on Instagram and foodies Facebook group. The suggestions I received were helpful but most of them were curious to know how it tastes and how I would use it.

In this post I’m going to give you the answers to these questions:

1.What is purple corn?

2.How does purple corn taste?

3.How to store ears of corn before cooking?

4.How to shuck purple corn?

5.How to get purple corn off the cob?

6.Can you use purple corn kernels in cooking?

Then I’m going to show you how to enjoy this special purple corn in a classic chicken and corn pizza recipe.

What is purple corn?

Purple corn is a lesser known variety of corn but it has been grown and widely consumed by the people in the Peruvian Andes for thousands of years. Purple corn doesn’t just look pretty—it’s good for you and full of antioxidants.  Most foods with deep color contain antioxidants known as anthocyanins that are essential to our health. Anthocyanins is a scientific term for plant pigment (usually found in red and purple fruits and vegetables) the more anthocyanins, the more intense the coloring.

I encourage you to look on the Internet for some really exciting information about purple corn.

How does purple corn taste?

Purple corn does not taste as sweet as the yellow variety of corn, but it’s so meaty and chewy. The kernels are firm and creamy at the same time with a mild nutty flavor. If you have tried Indian maize /Bhutta then you’ll know what exactly am I saying.

How to store ears of corn before cooking?

Corn starts to lose moisture the second it’s picked, so use them as soon as they are harvested. However, you can store it in the fridge for 2-3 days in a loose grocery bag with husks still on to prevent the kernels from drying out.

How to shuck & remove silk from purple corn?

There are so many crazy ways to shuck corn but this is how I have always peeled it and I am using the same method for purple corn.

Hold the corn in one hand and separate the silk and leaves with the other in half, and pull all the way down to reveal the cob full of kernels (as I have done in first picture of this post on the right). You can pull off one leaf at a time but it takes a lot of time.

Starting back at the top where the silk tassels are, pull down another section of husks. Bigger cobs with  tight husks may need three sections but otherwise you can shuck an ear of corn in just two big sections.

Once all the husks are pulled back to reveal the ear of corn kernels underneath, rip off the husks from the cob.

Then, grab a stiff-bristled brush (like potato scrubbing brush), and brush from top of the ear of corn, to downward, in one direction, around the entire corn ear.

How to get purple corn off the cob?

Growing up in India I have removed the corn kernels for chaat /salad from each ear by using my thumb (push kernels up and off the cob) but it didn’t work for purple corn. So this is how I did.

Hold the cob firmly in one hand (left in my case) over a bowl or plate. Take a (little blunt) knife and pierce it in between the corn line, then pierce and push it forward with a small twisting movement at the same time. The kernels will fall in the bowl. First few kernels will take a little longer but  once you know the trick, it will be easy. That’s how you get full pieces of corn. Purple corn stains the skin so you might want to wear gloves!.

I have a made a small video to give you better understanding.

Can you use purple corn in the same way as yellow corn variety?

Even though I am using purple corn for the first time still the short answer to this is, Yes – but you need to  soften them first. The kernels can then be added to muffins, soups, salads, pizza or stews.

How to soften purple corn kernels?

Steaming is the best method of cooking for softening purple corn.

The method:

Place corn kernels in a steamer basket and cook for about 5 -7 minutes. The exact cooking time will vary depending on how mature the corn is.

Be aware that the purple corn kernels will stain anything they touch. If you are using a bamboo steamer, you can lay parchment paper down on the surface with a few holes.

Steamed purple kernels can be stored in an airtight container or zip-loc bag for 2-3 days.

Now that you have learned how to soften corn kernels, it is time to eat them in a recipe!

I wanted to create an innovative recipe that highlight its color and tasty brilliance so I made Chicken corn pizza with white sauce. We pretty much all agree that Corn loves dairy fat – no wonder so many corn recipes call for cheese, mayonnaise, or butter. I made the white sauce with mascarpone cheese and mixed Italian cheese (inspired from an Instagram post of a friend). I had no time to make pizza from scratch so used the Panago Pizza crust  for this pizza. Don’t judge me guys, some nights call for this. So just love me and the pizza (they don’t sell it, my friend owns one of the Panago Pizza franchise so that’s how I got it) . The crust comes prebaked in a 10×10″ size (I cut the sides to make it rectangular). You can use this recipe to bake pizza crust and then go ahead and top it with all toppings. I went in this order, white sauce, some cheese, grilled chicken, steamed purple corn and grape tomatoes. After topping it gets baked for 10-15 minutes until it’s perfectly melty.

After finding out that purple corn kernels are just as edible as yellow corn variety I am pretty sure this will now always be on my grow list.

If you haven’t tried purple corn kernels yet, then I really think you have to take advantage of my recipe. If you enjoy it do let me know. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Let’s stay in touch.