Baked Corn Dip

Dip Dip Dip......... I would love to have a stash of good dip recipes. As I write this I'm slowly building just that. Dips are great party food. Make a big bowl of a yummy dip, plonk some chips or nachos on a plate and you have a snack that'll keep going for a couple of hours. And yes a good dip is always addictive. I'm sure we've all had 'that' situation, where we sat next to the bowl of chips and dip and just ate them one by one, almost involuntary... No?

So my usual 'dip' is mayonnaise, homemade and times store bought and I desperately needed to try some new dip recipes. So I did what I always do when I want to find an interesting recipe, I turned to pinterest. I didn't have to browse a bit, I realized I had pinned this recipe,  long ago. So click, open and find I did, this recipe for baked corn dip.

Now, this dip does need a little extra effort, it's a little more than the usual 'put a scoop of mayo and serve with chips' kind of dip, but it's simple and it's worth the effort. I know it isn't too much trouble, because I've made it twice now. I usually don't repeat a recipe I thought was complicated. So trust me and try this. It instantly sets your party food standards high and is enjoyable and refreshing from the same old dip dip dips.


So in very simple steps then. I first started by chopping all the ingredients I had to. A little bit of garlic, spring onion, half a red and yellow pepper each.

Though I'm more of a 'chop as you cook' kind of cook, sometimes it's just simpler to have all your ingredients ready. So once I had the veggies chopped, I turned to the corn. I used sweet corn. I removed the outer husk, and then removed the corn kernels by placing the ear of corn in a bowl and then using a sharp knife in downward strokes to trim the corn. A little bit of butter in the pan and the sweet corn, stir fried to brown it a bit.

Then, keeping the corn aside, a little more butter in the pan , to fry the chopped bell peppers, onion and garlic. Sweet corn and bell peppers make suuuuuuuuuch a good combination. You don't need to cook the bell peppers but the stir fry helps them get a bit buttery and lose their rawness. 

So really, it needs just a minute or two in the pan. Then it's all easy peasy from here. Just toss the corn and bell pepper mixture in an oven proof bowl, grate some cheese over it, a scoop of mayonnaise, a dust of paprika. While the recipe originally added jalapeno, I used a bit of store bought green chilly sauce. Cheese, corn and green chilly make a very delicious concoction.

 For the cheese I used milky mist mozarella cheese, you can use any cheese you like, any cheese that will melt and form lovely long strings of cheesiness..

You can make the dip up to this step in advance and then bake it just before you want to serve it. This way, it'll be warm and nice and the cheese will stay nice and melted. Also it takes just about 10-15  minutes in the oven, so you can time it to bake, according to when you need it. 

Once ready, serve it with nachos or chips. I had a tablespoon leftover after the party and I enjoyed the dip between two slices of toasted bread, which makes me think this will make an equally good sandwich spread. What do you think.

By the way, I'd hate for you to miss a post. So just enter your email address in the "Follow by Email" box on the right side of this page and get regular updates from the blog. Also send me pictures of  dishes you try from my blog. Would love love love to see them and share them with other readers. All for now.

Baked Corn Dip:

Adapted from Our Best Bites

Ingredients: 

2 tbsps butter

2 cups fresh sweet corn

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped

3 tbsps chopped spring onions

2 tsps minced garlic

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 tsp paprika

100 gms cheese

3 tbsp green chilly sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a pan, heat one tbsp of butter. Toss in the sweet corn, salt and pepper, and stir fry for about 5 minutes till the corn softens. Once cooked, put in a medium sized oven proof bowl. 

2. In the same pan, heat the remaining butter, add the minced garlic, fry for a minute and then add the bell peppers, and spring onions. Fry further for a minute, then add to the corn.

3. Add in the grated cheese, the mayonnaise, green chilly sauce and paprika.

4. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 C for about 10 to 15 minutes.