Cornbread is usually a supporting act, but this version is good enough to take centre stage at the dinner table, and will probably end up being the dish around which you plan the meal. The corn that bejewels the surface is best just out of the oven when it’s a little crispy from the butter, and a little sticky from the maple syrup. That's not to say you need to eat it all in one go, it will still be delicious the next day, heated up.

To heat, either pan-fry, or place the slices on a tray in a cold oven, turn the temperature up to 150°C fan/170°C and warm for about 10 minutes. Serve with plenty of butter on the side.

METHOD:

• Preheat oven to 200°C fan/220°C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.

• Melt the butter in a medium pan over a medium heat for 5–6 minutes, stirring often until the butter foams and then turns deep golden-brown. Add the corn and bubble away for 4 minutes, stirring every so often. Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.

• While it’s is cooling, put the yoghurt, eggs, Scotch bonnet, spring onion, ginger, curry powder, lime zest, polenta, flour, salt and 3 tablespoons of maple syrup into a food processor, but don’t blitz yet.

• Once cool, set aside 140g of the corn and butter mixture in a small bowl to use later. Add the remaining corn and butter to the food processor, then add the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Pulse about 3–5 times, just until the mixture comes together. Don’t overmix, you want a textured batter with small chunks of corn.

• Transfer into the prepared tin, then spoon the reserved corn and butter evenly over the surface.

• Bake for 20 minutes, then evenly drizzle over the remaining 3 tbsp of maple syrup and bake for another 15–20 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown on top.

• Cool for 15 minutes. If you have a blowtorch, use it to char the corn in places. Drizzle over some more maple syrup, sprinkle with flaked salt and serve with a slab of butter alongside.
  

Notes

I use a whole Scotch bonnet, and its flavour and heat is quite dominant. I love that, but you can of course add less, removing the pith and seeds, or just add a pinch of regular chilli flakes for milder heat.


You need the fine, quick-cook variety of polenta for this; look at the packet and as long as the cooking time is 8 minutes or less, you're good to go. Coarse grind polenta that takes 40 minutes plus to cook won't work here.

Adapted from Mezcla: Recipes to Excite (Ebury Press)