Corn cheese

Today’s menu is Korean style corn cheese!
You might have tasted this dish at a Korean restaurant because it’s a common side dish in many places. Korean restaurants almost always serve some side dishes before they bring out the main dish, and bubbling corn cheese served on a small cast iron pan is always popular. Once we see the melting cheese on top of corn, we can’t resist spooning some!

It’s never made from fresh corn, always canned corn, which is already seasoned a bit in a sweet brine. This means you can make this dish any time of year as long as you have a can of corn at home. It’s easy, hot, gooey, savory, a little sweet, and corny!

Be sure to squeeze the excess water out of all the ingredients, otherwise the bottom of the corn cheese will be too wet, like a floating island! I added a few pieces of thin garaetteok rice cake to the corn cheese in this recipe to make it look so good and give you an idea for a quick and simple breakfast. It also makes a good side dish for beer and you see corn-cheese in served in many Korean bars as drinking food (anju).

There are 2 ways to finish this dish – one is on the stovetop, and the other is in the oven. Both are good but in the oven you can use the broiler to make the cheese on top bubbly and a little scorched.

Enjoy the recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 can of unsalted corn (15¼ ounces, or 432 grams), strained with the excess water squeezed out
• ¾ cup of chopped onion, red bell pepper (or carrot), and green bell pepper mixed together
• a pinch of kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 5 to 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly
• 2 ounces white rice cake, sliced into small pieces

Directions

1. Combine the chopped onion, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and a pinch of salt in a bowl and mix them well. Let it sit for 5 minutes before wrapping it all in a cotton cloth and squeezing out the excess water.
2. Heat up an oven-safe, heavy skillet or pan and add the butter and corn. Stir and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the corn absorbs all the butter. Add the vegetables and stir for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and cool it down a little.
3. Add the mayonnaise and sugar and mix well. 

To finish it in the oven

1. Heat up a cast iron pan on the stovetop. Add the corn mixture to it, and then add the cheese on top of the corn and the rice cake on top of the cheese.
2. Cover and cook over medium high heat for 3 to 4 minutes until the corn is sizzling. Turn down the heat to low and cook a couple of minutes until the cheese is a little melted. Meanwhile preheat the oven broiler.
3. Put the pan into the broiler. I place the pan on the 3rd rack of my oven. Let it cook until all the the cheese is slightly scorched and the rice cake is well done. Remove from the heat and serve right away.

To finish it on the stove

1. Add the cheese on top of the corn and the rice cake on top of the cheese.
2. Cover and cook over low heat for 7 or 8 minutes, or until the cheese melts, and serve right away.