Cheesy mielie bread with tomato and chilli butter

'Mielies’ typically refers to white corn – a staple in South Africa, with a more savoury flavour compared with more familiar yellow sweetcorn. Using white corn and yellow sweetcorn, this loaf makes for a great snack or side to a meal. Or try it with tomato butter and avocado for breakfast.

Cheesy mielie bread with tomato and chilli butter. Credit: Toby Murphy

• serves

  6-8

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  50 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 250 g plain flour
• 150 g white maize meal or polenta
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 150 g grated cheddar
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• Kernels from 2 heads of corn
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 300 ml buttermilk
• 100 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• Red chillies and sliced avocado, to serve

Tomato and chilli butter

• 1 whole head garlic
• 80 g drained sun-dried tomatoes
• 2 tbsp drained, sliced, pickled jalapeño or other chilli
• 150 g unsalted butter, softened

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a loaf pan with baking paper.
• For the loaf, combine the flour, maize meal, baking powder, salt and pepper, 100 g of the cheddar, chives and corn kernels and stir to combine. In a jug whisk the eggs, buttermilk and melted butter, then gradually stir into the corn mixture.
• Spoon into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the top, then sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
• For the butter, you need some roasted garlic. Place the whole head of garlic in the centre of a piece of foil and wrap it up, then place in the oven and bake at 180°C for 25 minutes until it’s very soft then remove and cool completely. Once cool, squeeze out the garlic from the clove surrounds – you can snip the head with scissors to make it easier to press it all out. Add to a food processor with the sun-dried tomatoes, chillies, butter and 1 tsp each salt and freshly ground black pepper. Blitz until smooth.
• Serve slices of the bread with tomato butter, and if you like some sliced avocado and chilli.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.