Perkedel Jagung III (corn fritters)

by Pauline Chavannes de Senerpont Domis · Published December 17, 2017 · Updated December 17, 2017

For magazine Moesson I’ve made my version of perkedel jagung (corn fritters) earlier this week. Now it’s time to test Beb Vuyk’s perkedel jagung. On this blog I make all her recipes from her famous Indonesian recipe book.

These corn fritters are the perfect snack during tea, but you can also serve them as part of an extensive Indonesian dinner, Beb Vuyk explains.

Beb makes perkedel jagung from fresh corn or from canned corn. Beb uses a lot of herbs in her version and she adds some santen (coconut cream) through the corn batter.

Error in book

Beb refers in this recipe # 388 to recipe 386 and 387, but in these recipes something went wrong during the printing of the book. The instructions have been swapped and therefore the ingredient lists have been broken off. Hard to find out what is in which fritter now, but I have sorted it out for you.

I always copy Beb’s recipes literally on this blog, but not this time, because it will be too confusing for those who want to put a crunchy perkedel jagung on the table. Therefore, here are the completely ‘restored recipes’ of Beb’s fritters with two types of seasoning.

This recipe is enough for about 6-10 fritters (depending on the other ingredients) per 150 grams of corn.

Perkedel Jagung III (from canned corn) # 388 from Beb Vuyk’s Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, page 318.

Ingredients

1/2 can of corn granules
2 to 3 tablespoons of flour

Spices # 386 Corn Fritters I

1 tablespoon of shredded santen (coconut cream)
1 egg
1 tablespoon of chopped onions
1 chopped clove of garlic
2 roasted kemiries (candlenuts)
1 teaspoon of laos (galangal)
1 teaspoon of ketumbar (coriander)
1/2 teaspoon jinten (cumin)
mespuntje kencur
salt

Spices # 387 Corn Fritters II

1 tablespoon of shredded santen (coocnut cream)
1 egg
1 tablespoon of chopped onions
1 chopped clove of garlic
2 roasted kemiries (candlenuts)
1 tablespoon of chopped leek
1 tablespoon of chopped celery
pepper
salt

Let the corn drain well. The preparation is the same * as in recipes with fresh corn. The difference is that flour has been added to the batter. The grated fresh corn grains have a binding effect. Canned corns miss that. The fritters are slightly less crispy but are still very tasty.

Preparation with spices # 1

Rub onions, garlic, kemiries (candlenuts), laos (galangal), ketumbar (coriander), jinten (cumin), kencur and salt together. Beat the egg and mix in the herbs, the coconut cream, and the corn.

Preparation with spices # 2

Rub the onion with the garlic, the kemiries (candlenuts) together with salt, pepper and the chopped santen. Beat the egg. Mix the corn grains together with the egg and the rubbed herbs, the chopped leeks and celery.

Heat up the oil and fry the fritters of about the size of a big tablespoon.

* Original text: as described in the recipes above.

Ingredients for spice mix 1

Beb has 4 different versions of perkedel jagung in her book. Corn is such a regular ingredient that there must be lots of different recipes all around the world. Every household, every region and every country (corn fritters are famous in South America too) have some version of corn fritters.

Spices mix 2 with leeks and celery is again very different from version 1 with kencur root and ketumbar (coriander), but it all comes down to the same thing when making it.

For both versions I use about 100-150 grams of corn granules per version.

For spice mix 1 I stir the corn, flour, herbs, and salt through the beaten egg. Be careful with the kencur. That is a strong root and too much predominates quickly in flavor. I love kencur. I particularly like it in chili salsa.

Do not fry the perkedel in oil that is too hot, otherwise, the fritters will burn too fast. I let them become nice and golden in the hot oil in a few minutes and turn them halfway. I let them get rid of excess oil on some kitchen paper and serve warm with chili sauce.