Spicy Mexican Corn Bread

Cornbread is a popular item in Southern cooking enjoyed by many people for its texture and aroma. Cornbread can be baked, fried or, rarely, steamed. Steamed cornbread is mushy, chewier and more like cornmeal pudding than what most consider to be traditional cornbread.
Cornbread is a common bread in United States cuisine, particularly associated with the South and Southwest, as well as being a traditional staple for populations where wheat flour was more expensive.
In some parts of the South it is crumbled into a glass of cold milk or buttermilk and eaten with a spoon, and it is also widely eaten with barbecue and chili con carne. In parts of the southern and southwestern United States, cornbread, accompanied by pinto beans, has been a common lunch for many people. It is still a common side dish, often served with homemade butter, chunks of onion or scallions. Cornbread crumbs are also used in some poultry stuffing; cornbread stuffing is particularly associated with Thanksgiving turkey.

In the United States, northern and southern cornbread are different because they generally use different types of corn meal and varying degrees of sugar and eggs. Southern cornbread has traditionally been made with little or no sugar and smaller amounts flour or no flour, with northern cornbread being sweeter and more cake like. Southern cornbread traditionally used white cornmeal and buttermilk. 

Cornbread is occasionally crumbled and served with cold milk or clabber (buttermilk), similar to cold cereal. In Texas, the Mexican influence has spawned a hearty cornbread made with fresh or creamed corn kernels and jalapeño peppers and topped with shredded cheese. Cornbread is typically eaten with molasses in the southern states and honey in the northern states.
This Zesty spicy corn bread can be served with any soup or chili, or can be enjoyed plain as this is not typical of very dry corn bread. 
You can make this in cup cakes molds, but I wanted to make about 20 squares to I baked it in a large silicone 10 x 14 pan. It came out very dense and moist, which I prefer over the regular dry corn bread that you get in restaurants.

As I mentioned I wanted to make this in large quantity but if you just want to make it for family of four you can  cut the recipe in half very easily  by cutting the quantities of ingredients in half.

Ingredients:

• Two 8 oz packs of Jiffy corn muffin mix
• 2 (15 4/4 oz) cans of whole kernel corn 
• 2 cups of Homemade corn and black bean salsa (recipe on this blog) (optional)
•  If you are not adding salsa, then you may add 1/3 cup of chopped cilantro, 1/2 cup of chopped green or regular onions, and 1 can drained black beans and finely chopped  one red and one green peppers and fresh 1-2 jalapeno peppers.
• 2 (14 3/4 oz) cans of creamed style corn
• 1 stick of butter melted
• 2 eggs (optional)
• 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 cups of shredded hot pepper jack cheese
• 1 (16 oz) container of fat free or low fat sour cream.
• 2-3 tables spoon of vegetable oil to grease the pan
• 1 - 1.5 cup of chopped pickled Jalapeno peppers 

 

Method: 

•  Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F
•  Mix both shredded cheeses together.
• In the  mixing bowl of electric mixer, whisk butter and eggs together.
• Stir in creamed style corn, mix at slow speed.
• Add sour cream and kernels of corn.
• Mix together at slow speed.
• Add muffin mix.
• Mix at medium speed
• Add salsa, fold in chopped Jalapenos and half of mixed cheddar and pepper jack cheese.
• Set the other half aside to sprinkle on top.
•  If you are not adding salsa, you may add chopped cilantro, chopped green or regular onions,  drained black beans and finely chopped  red, green and fresh Jalapeno peppers.

• Generously grease the pan with vegetable cooking oil.
• Pour the batter in to the pan.
• Bake at 350 for 65-70 min or until bread is golden brown and edges are receding the pan and the toothpick comes out clean from center of bread.
• Take the bread out of oven.
• Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top evenly.
• Bake additional 10 min in oven at 350 degrees F or until the cheese is melted.

• Let it stand for 10 min to cool or until you can cut squares without falling apart.
• Best when served warm as a side dish with your favorite meal, or soup or chili.

Corn Bread info source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornbread
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License
Recipe and Photographs by Surekha

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