Corn Pancakes With Cheese Or Cachapas De Carabobo Recipes

CACHAPAS (VENEZUELAN CORN PANCAKES)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
• Add the crema, half of the corn, eggs, sugar and salt to a blender and blend until the mixture is evenly combined but still chunky. Add the arepa flour and the remaining corn, then blend until a thick, even batter forms with pieces of corn still visible. Let the batter sit a couple of minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick skillet or a griddle over medium heat until warm and spray generously with cooking spray. Add two 1/4-cup scoops of the batter, spacing them apart, to form 2 pancakes. Smooth each out with the back of your measuring cup to form a 5-inch-wide pancake, making sure the center is thin and flat -- the center takes longer to cook and if mounded will make the pancake much harder to flip. Cook until the bottoms are dark brown, almost black, about 5 minutes. While the pancakes cook, shred or slice your cheese, if necessary.
• Flip the pancakes and top one of them with a quarter of the cheese. Cook until the cheese melts, about 3 minutes, then top the cheese with the second pancake. Transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.
• Make more cachapas with the remaining batter and cheese, wiping out the previous oil and spraying the skillet or griddle generously with cooking spray for each batch. Once all of the cachapas are filled with cheese, top each with a half tablespoon of butter and serve with crema on the side, for dipping.

FRESH CORN PANCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, stir together the fine and stone-ground cornmeals, the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and 1 tablespoon salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, eggs, and Sriracha. Stir in the corn, chives, and jalapeno pepper and mix into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until moistened. Don't overmix!
• Heat 1 tablespoon of clarified butter in a large (12-inch) saute pan over medium heat until it sizzles. Drop 1/4-cup measures of batter into the pan without crowding them. Press each pancake very lightly with a small metal spatula. Cook for 2 minutes, turn, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes, until both sides are browned and the center of the pancake is firm. Place the pancakes on the prepared sheet pans and keep them warm in the oven while you cook the rest of the batter. Continue making the pancakes, adding more clarified butter to the pan, as needed. Sprinkle with salt and serve warm with a sprinkling of minced chives.

FRESH CORN PANCAKES TOPPED WITH CHEESE: CACHAPAS

Steps:

• Scrape corn kernels from the cobs; run the back of your knife along the cob to extract all the corn liquid. Put corn into a food processor and pulse a few times to break up the kernels. Add masa harina and salt and pulse to incorporate. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium low heat. Divide the mixture into 4 and make 4 corn cakes. Cover and let the cakes cook for 5 minutes. Uncover the pan and carefully flip the cachapas over. Press on them with a spatula to flatten them a bit. Cook, covered, for another 5 minutes. Uncover and cook for about 5 more minutes; they should be a dark golden brown. Top with the cheese and cover until the cheese has melted. Serve immediately.

CORN PANCAKES WITH CHEESE OR CACHAPAS DE CARABOBO

Steps:

• Puree corn & press through sieve to yield about 3 cups.
• To the corn add cream, egg, flour, sugar & salt, & mix well before letting batter rest 15 minutes.
• Onto hot griddle or cast iron skillet, pour 1 tablespoon oil, then pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.
• Fry, turning once until lightly browned & firm on both sides.
• Remove from griddle & serve wrapped around a slice of cheese.

VENEZUELAN CORN PANCAKES (CACHAPAS)

Steps:

• With a knife, remove the corn kernels from the cobs. Put the corn kernels and the other ingredients in the food processor and process. You must get a pancake-like consistency, not too thick.
• Preheat your griddle or a non-stick fry pan to medium high heat and lightly grease it with oil spray. Measure about half cup of the mixture and spread it with a round spoon over the pan until you get a circle of about 4 to 5 inches of diameter.
• When the surface starts to bubble, turn it over with a spatula and cook it on the other side. Each side takes about 2 minutes, depending on the thickness.
• Fill them with fresh cheese,in Venezuela, we fill them with "queso de mano" which is a white fresh cheese, delicious, but you could use for example a low fat soft white cheese or anything you want like nonfat slices of turkey or ham. Or even non-sugar jam Or no-fat cream cheese, ricotta, -- anything you want.