Mahanandi

Living in Consciousness ~ Indi(r)a’s Food and Garden Weblog

Cornmeal-Cabbage Muffins

Williams-Sonoma, the kitchenware shop that sells quality kitchen stuff, has a series of cook books – Like their shop, the cookbooks are very clean, organized, not a lot of recipes, but have an excellent presentation and gorgeous photos. The book size is not too big, not too small; they are like short notebooks with color photo on every page. Each book focuses on one topic. So far, Cookies, Cakes, Muffins, Breads and Risotto – these are the cookbooks, I borrowed from my local library and flicked through. More than anything, they are eye candy.

Williams-Sonoma

Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness, my blog friend is blogging recipes from ‘Muffins‘ cookbook. When she mentioned last week that she was going to try cornmeal-jalapeno muffin recipe, I wanted to join in and made a baking date with her. After two renewals and before returning the book to the library, I wanted to try at least one recipe. FInally last weekend, I baked cornmeal muffins from the book.

I followed the recipe mostly and also added some extras, because I was preparing these muffins for our supper. In addition to corn meal, all purpose flour, butter milk and baking powder etc, I have also added cabbage, shallot, chickpeas sauté to the cornmeal dough, so that the muffins baked would be more dinner worthy. They turned out, I can’t say excellent, but acceptable, even after all these extras. I can’t imagine the taste if I tried them bland with only just cornmeal and chillies.

cornmeal-cabbage dough in muffin pan - all ready for baking

Recipe:
(For 11 muffins)

1½ cups of yellow cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1½ cups of buttermilk
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon of each – salt, sugar and baking powder
Some cheese gratings to top the muffins
Veggies I added
3 cups of finely chopped cabbage (I used red cabbage)
3 shallots and 6 green chillies- finely chopped
½ cup of chickpeas (soaked overnight)

First I sautéed the veggies together for few minutes, until they are cooked. In the meantime, I mixed all other ingredients together thoroughly without any lumps. I stirred in the sautéed veggie mixture to the dough. Greased the muffin pan with little bit of oil, leaving one muffin cup empty and filling it with water to prevent warping (following the book suggestion). Filled the muffin cups with cornmeal-cabbage dough. I also sprinkled cheese on top of some. Baked them in a preheated oven at 400 F (200C) for about 25 minutes, until they are golden.

They tasted like baked versions of cabbage bajjis (you know the kind, bajjis/pakoras – veggies mixed in a gram flour-jowar flour-rice flour dough, then deep fried — almost like that).

Cornmeal Cabbage Muffins - One with cheese sprinkled on top and the other with no cheese topping
Cornmeal-Cabbage Muffins

Recipe Source: Adapted from ‘Williams Sonoma-Muffins’, page 46
Things I skipped adding (from the book’s recipe) are 2 eggs, another 1 ½ tsp of baking powder and more oil – reason for my flat muffin tops.

On a blogging break. See you all in a few days.

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in All-Purpose Flour(Maida),Cabbage,Chickpeas,Corn Meal,Shallots (Tuesday February 28, 2006 at 2:07 pm- permalink)
Comments (34)

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34 comments for Cornmeal-Cabbage Muffins »

  1. But weren’t the veggies in the muffins over-roasted? I guess muffins are best had for breakfast with jam or marmalade. Add a pot of freshly brewed coffee and some fruit…Heaven! 🙂

    Comment by Sandhya — February 28, 2006 @ 3:25 pm

  2. I wasn’t sure whether they will be cooked properly, If added directly, so I sauteed them first. and No – they are not ‘over-roasted’.

    I find muffins for breakfast very fatty, not my taste, Sandhya.:)

    Comment by Indira — February 28, 2006 @ 3:43 pm

  3. Hmm, interesting. I love banana nut muffins and have often thought about making, but never made savory muffins. Should give it a try.

    Btw, I switched from holyjalapeno to saffronhut because I discovered that there is a co. called HolyJalapeno. So my new home now is saffronhut.blogspot.com !!

    Comment by Saffron Hut — February 28, 2006 @ 3:49 pm

  4. Muffins are my favourite weekend ordeal.But the prob is i keep messing up with it.Still now i tried corn muffins(3) and banana almond(1 time) but none of them have worked for me….Well still experimenting..Hope this website helps you..
    http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/bakingtips.Muffins/Muffins.cfm

    Comment by BDSN — February 28, 2006 @ 4:02 pm

  5. They look gorgeous Indira. I never make corn muffins or cornbread because they always turn bland and dry. But with your additions, they may be very tasty. Are they ok the next day- or do they dry out a lot?

    I still remember the photo of your mouth-watering cornbread with cranberry, yum!

    Comment by mika — February 28, 2006 @ 4:15 pm

  6. BTW, i have been trying some of your recipes. I tried the ridge gourd dal and also silk squash subzi. Both were very good. Today I am going to try your ridge gourd gravy curry.

    Indira replies…
    I’m glad they turned out great Mika.
    About these muffins, they did dry out by morning and we couldn’t eat them the following day. I had to throw them away. Cornmeal stuff is really an acquired taste, not for everyone, that’s for sure.:)

    Comment by mika — February 28, 2006 @ 4:18 pm

  7. Indira – you got my attention when you said they tasted almost like pakoras. Very interesting recipe! I’m not a fan of sweet stuff that much, so your savoury kind sounds really appetizing.

    Comment by garammasala — February 28, 2006 @ 6:11 pm

  8. somehow my versions of american recipes never come out good…so i don’t think i’m going to venture with muffins anytime soon:P
    ur dum aloo looks good

    Comment by Nabeela — February 28, 2006 @ 8:25 pm

  9. Yay! Someone ELSE who adds vegetables to everything that resembles food! 😉

    Comment by Alanna — February 28, 2006 @ 9:27 pm

  10. Hey Indira, how come your muffins didnt fluff as much as Stepanie’s? I saw the pic that she posted on her blog. What could be the difference in recipe?

    Comment by Supriya — March 1, 2006 @ 3:40 am

  11. If you take the eggs, oil and some of the baking powder out of the muffins, they won’t rise as much. Me, personally, I would keep one egg, the baking powder and see about taking the oil out altogether, and see how that recipe worked out. I think that they would be a bit more moist and would rise better, but still be lower in fat than traditional muffins.

    A bit of honey or applesauce added to the dough also adds flavor and moisture to the muffins without adding fat. (I am remembering the baking tips from my low-fat cooking class in culinary school….)

    Comment by Barbara — March 1, 2006 @ 10:28 am

  12. All I can say is WOW!!!!!

    Comment by tony of the bachelor cooking — March 1, 2006 @ 12:35 pm

  13. Well, if nothing else, your muffins are a lot prettier!

    I love ’em, and I’m glad you finally got around to making something from one of the books. I’ll post my muffins…much less interesting, without the cabbage, et al…later this week!

    Comment by Stephanie — March 1, 2006 @ 1:19 pm

  14. Forgot to say Thank you for the tip..My bad..
    Thanks Indira.

    Comment by Santhi — March 1, 2006 @ 4:51 pm

  15. Hi Indira,

    I posted a comment here a few hours ago. But it looks you deleted it ? Any problem ?

    Indira replies…
    HI Sonali, I installed a spam protector yesterday because of excessive comment spam. It automatically deletes spam comments, somehow your comment got deleted. I apologize. What did I miss?

    Comment by Sonali — March 2, 2006 @ 11:23 am

  16. No problem. Nothing much really. Just added you to my fave list..if its ok with you. Also, I thought cabbage was too bland for anything except Spring Rolls ;).

    Comment by Sonali — March 2, 2006 @ 1:21 pm

  17. Indira, when u said they tasted like pakoras, i was really excited to try. finally I made it yesterday…i din’t like it…the corn meal stinks. They are no way near to tasty pakoras

    Comment by Madhu — March 2, 2006 @ 4:20 pm

  18. Hi Indira,

    My commets are getting deleted.
    Do u even get to see them before they go away?

    Indira replies…
    I corrected the spam protector settings. I promise your comments won’t get deleted from now on. Sorry about what happened to your comments.

    Comment by santhi — March 2, 2006 @ 4:26 pm

  19. Indira – What a fun twist on cornmeal muffins!

    Comment by Joe — March 2, 2006 @ 11:33 pm

  20. Hello Indira Garu,
    This is Raghu, Vijay’s friend.Your writing style is excellent.Makes me to read from top to bottom.The instructions are really clear.
    Great job.
    Raghu

    Comment by Raghu — March 3, 2006 @ 11:15 am

  21. hello indira,
    Ur recipes look so yummy…u use very little oil in all of them, how can they turn tasty with such little oil? Esp the aloo dum, one wud expect lots of tablespoons of oil going into it instead of just 2 teaspoons!!!

    Comment by reethu — March 3, 2006 @ 1:53 pm

  22. Hi Indira,

    This looks delicious.

    I just found your wonderful site when I was searching for “hominy.” I will be back. I am currently trying to decide how to use my toor dal.

    Comment by eqj (the chocolate lady) — March 3, 2006 @ 3:17 pm

  23. aha! I was wondering why you were so silent i.e. no blog updates. Enjoy your break! boy, this blogging stuff is addictive. I need to take a break as well 🙂

    Comment by Saffron Hut — March 3, 2006 @ 6:41 pm

  24. Enjoy your break Indira. And hope you will comeback with many more delicious recipes.

    Comment by Santhi — March 3, 2006 @ 8:00 pm

  25. same thing indira, my comment deleted too.

    Comment by Meenal Mehta — March 5, 2006 @ 3:50 am

  26. Have a wonderful break, Indira. I’ll be thinking of you!

    Indira replies…
    Thanks Barbara for the wishes. I really appreciate it.

    Comment by Barbara — March 6, 2006 @ 5:17 pm

  27. Hi Indira,

    I am from Yemmiganur,Kurnool district.Enjoy all your ammas and authentic recipes.Thanks a great deal.I am a great fan of Corn in any form but I tried these muffins,no much success with the taste.As you rightly said cornmeal is an acquired taste.
    Well, Romanians make a dish called mammaliga out of corngrits, delicious. May be you could make it sometime.It is served with sourcream and fried onions.

    Shubha

    Indira replies…
    I agree with you, cornmeal is not for everyone and these muffins are truly an acquired taste.
    “Mammaliga” – I’m curious. Is it anyway like our upma? I’ll definitely do googling for the recipe, because I like all things with corn including grits. 🙂

    Comment by Shubha Shashikanth — March 7, 2006 @ 7:20 am

  28. Hi Indira, why no updates for so long?
    By the way I just realized something and wanted to tell you. You have raised the bar of recipe sites that now I just dont like looking at those that dont have pictures :). Though I see the recipe write up, I just close the browser coz they dont interest me any more unless they have pictures to go along.
    🙂

    Indira replies…
    I needed a break, Supriya. I was spending lots of time online and I had to take a break for my sanity.:)
    I’m also like you, I need beautiful pictures to even consider looking at a food blog, or excellent, opiniated writing style.:)

    Comment by Supriya — March 7, 2006 @ 8:00 am

  29. Hi Indira,
    I am commenting for the first time, although I have visited your blog a few times before. Today I tried your Brussels Sprouts Curry. I have never cooked Brussels Sprouts before, but I like them. As Martha Stewart says, they are pretty much like cabbage. Thanks for posting the recipe; it gave me enough courage to try out a different vegetable.

    Indira replies…
    They do taste like cabbage, aren’t they? I’m glad you tried and liked my curry version, vaishali. Thanks for the feedback.

    Comment by Vaishali — March 7, 2006 @ 8:24 am

  30. Mammaliga is more or less like upma, but again need to develop a taste.

    I loved it the first time i tried it.specially with fried onions. I would love to give you the recipe if you like.
    I like the “sarmale” it is good to taste but again need to develop a taste for romanian veggie food.

    Now got used to it a little.

    see u

    Shubha

    Comment by Shubha Shashikanth — March 8, 2006 @ 2:53 pm

  31. Hi Shubha, I’d love to have the recipe. Thanks for the offer. You can email me at – mailmeatmahanandi@yahoo.com or write the recipe here at comments section. Thank you!
    commenting from eastern Europe?

    Comment by Indira — March 8, 2006 @ 2:59 pm

  32. Great to see such a prompt response.I am as of now residing in (BINGO ,U got it right) in Romania.Have been here since past four years.
    Nice to know you.will mail u for sure with authentic recipes.

    Comment by Shubha Shashikanth — March 8, 2006 @ 4:09 pm

  33. Hi Indira,

    I came across your blog a couple of days back. I really enjoyed going through and tried a few recipes too.
    I tried the cabbage muffins last saturday and they came out very well. We had a few friends over during the weekend and I prepared it and they all enjoyed it….I didnt get the red cabbage so tried it out with the ordinary one and it was fanastic. I used other veggies like grated carrot, beets and peas.
    Thanks once again.

    Comment by Sharmila — August 15, 2006 @ 11:20 am

  34. Wow, incredible blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is excellent, let alone the content!

    Comment by Black Magic For Love Solution — May 9, 2018 @ 4:21 am

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