Corn

These tofu vegetable skewers are a little sweet and a little salty with tons of umami from chili bean paste. 

This dish of sautéed prawns and sweet corn has an abundance of flavor thanks to fresh ginger and Thai chile.

This creamy white chicken chili with beans and corn is a quick one-pot meal. Add avocado, cilantro, and tortilla chips and you have a crowd-pleasing dinner.

Fresh corn is the star of this cooling raita, which serves as a palate cleanser between bites of spicier dishes.

This succotash recipe has some bacon for heft and jalapeños for kick, plus fresh summer corn, lima beans, and okra.

This savory corn pudding is creamy and cheesy, with fresh corn kernels, celery, and onions throughout. A topping of buttery cracker crumbles adds crunch.

The best way to boil corn on the cob is to keep things simple so that nothing gets in the way of the vegetable’s sweet, summery flavor.

Poach salmon in the same thyme-and-garlic-infused water that the corn is boiled in for this refreshing, time-saving salad dinner.

If you can’t eat just one totopo (tortilla chip), this is the salsa of your dreams. 

Masa is the essence of Mexico. It is the foundation of Mexican cooking. In Oaxaca, a lot of families still make their own nixtamal at home to supply their daily masa consumption. Nixtamal is the process of treating dried corn with an alkaline solution to make it more nutritious. Slaking lime—also known as pickling lime, a naturally occurring mineral compound—has been used for thousands of years for this process. After a night of soaking, the nixtamalized corn is ground and transformed into masa. This technique has been passed from generation to generation, especially in Oaxaca. Every night before my mom goes to bed, she nixtamalizes a batch of corn so she can make fresh masa the next morning. It’s part of her nightly routine.    The trickiest part of making masa might be grinding it, and for that I recommend a tabletop wet stone mill or a hand-cranked wet grinder. I like Premier’s Small Wonder 1.5-liter tabletop wet grinder.    Believe me, there is nothing more fulfilling than making your own masa at home.

I long for the flavor of tamales de elote, made with puréed fresh corn kernels. But our starchy, flavorful Mexican corn cannot be replaced with United States sweet corn, which creates a terribly insipid, watery effect. So I evolved something a little different using a regular masa mixture with fresh corn kernels and seasonings beaten in.

People always want bread to dip into their clam broth, so why not put the clams right on the bread from the get-go?

This brothy soup feels like coastal Oaxaca in a bowl. It has tons of herbs, buttery shrimp, a light spicy-smoky broth—and chochoyotes, dumplings made from fresh masa or masa harina.

The subtle aromatic flavor of azafrán (also known as safflower tea) is wonderful in this nutritious soup with fresh sweet vegetables.

In this riff on Singapore-style curry noodles, shawarma spice takes the place of curry powder. Cauliflower, corn, and peas add pops of texture and sweetness.

You only need one bowl to mix this easy, cheesy, savory-and-sweet corn muffins.

Turmeric, chiles, and chewy-nutty cooked grains balance the sweetness of fresh corn in this loose vegan riff on creamed corn.

In this frittata, corn adds the perfect texture while a jam-like tomato compote adds a wonderful sweetness.

This dish is all about assembly, not time at the stove. You’ll quickly sauté chickpeas and corn, then gather the supporting characters: lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, feta, and lime.

Juicy ripe tomatoes and sweet summer corn perk up this fresh take on the old-school Southwestern casserole. Bonus: it just happens to be gluten-free.

This Caesar salad works in flavors from the African American kitchens in the Lowcountry. That means fresh tomatoes, fried okra, cornbread croutons, and a zesty red bell pepper dressing that ties it all together.

This dish is the embodiment of a chowder-style Southern fish stew, packed with shrimp, scallops, potatoes, corn, and more.

The tender sweetness of summer-fresh strawberries paired with chunks of cherry-red rhubarb creates our favorite sweet-and-sour dessert.

These tender, fluffy cornbread muffins skip the butter and call for creamy whipped corn instead. A side of homemade jalapeño pepper jelly adds some spice.