Happy first of May and Happy Cinco de Mayo! Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for “5th of May”) is a celebration of Mexico’s cultural heritage and pride. The festivities include parades, mariachi band performances, street festivals and of course — margaritas!
Mr Sweetie is Mexican-American which is why Cinco de Mayo is celebrated at our house. (Ok, I admit, it is a great excuse reason to make and drink margaritas at home! This is the one and only time each year that we ever drink hard liquor at home. He is not a drinker while I like wine and champagne, and the occasional drinks with girlfriends.)
The idea of drinking fruity margarita on a weekday seems fun and naughty whenever Cinco de Mayo falls on a weekday. However, this post is not about margaritas. It is really about corn bread with green chiles. The recipe has been adapted from the book “Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking” by Toni Tipton-Martin. It is called Spanish Corn Bread in the book. Jubilee is such a wonderful cookbook that I found at the San Francisco Public Library. The photos are mouthwatering. The book is a celebration of African-American cuisine and its history. It gained many accolades including being a winner of the coveted James Beard Award.
I made the Spanish cornbread in June 2020, just less than 3 months after California went into the first lockdown. I thought that May will be the best month to post it in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. This cornbread is so moist, so good, so delicious — the best one ever that it is a keeper. I will definitely make it over and over again! And in honor of Cinco de Mayo, I chose to post this delicious corn bread recipe.
I thought that I would also include my pretty little doll in the photos that I got during our trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in 2016, as well as the red bowl that I bought from a market in Mexico. They remind me of beautiful memories of our travels.
CORNBREAD WITH GREEN CHILES
Adapted from the book “Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking” by Toni Tipton-Martin
- 1 1/2 c yellow cornmeal
- 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
- 1/4 c sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 c cream-style corn
- 1 c buttermilk
- 1 – 4oz can diced green chiles
- 1/2 c minced green onions
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1 c shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
- 4 tbps butter, cubed into pieces
TO MAKE
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Mix together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In another bowl, mix together the corn, buttermilk, chiles, cheese and egg. Gently fold in the green onions.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture. Stir until combined. Do not over mix.
- Melt the butter in a 10-inch cast iron pan in the oven until foamy. Do not burn. Tilt the pan to coat it with the melted butter. Pour the batter into the hot skillet.
- Bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown.
MY NOTES
- Of course the original recipe is perfect but I would like to honor and respect not just copyright laws but the efforts and love that went into creating it by re-writing the recipe in my own words as much as possible. (I also do not want to plagiarize!)
- The changes that I made were: 1) Instead of using onions, I used green onions. 2) I also used a different title for my post from the original title in the book “Spanish Cornbread.”
- When I made the cornbread, I made half with chiles and half without. I only included the chiles in one half of the batter. The other half was just cornbread without the chiles. I made it this way because I knew that Mr Sweetie would not want chiles in his. I poured half of the batter without the chiles first then I mixed in the chiles with the other half then I poured that half into the skillet. It worked!
- I also used self-rising flour and omitted the baking soda, salt and baking powder.
- This cornbread is so good drizzled with honey!
Did you make CORNBREAD WITH CHILES? Please let me know by leaving a comment below. Enjoy!
Happy 1st of May and Happy Cinco de Mayo!
4 responses to “Cornbread with green chiles”
This is one of my favorite ways to eat cornbread! Yours looks yummy!!!
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It is so good! If ever want to try the recipe, it is very good. I adapted it from the award-winning book I mentioned. I just changed the wording but it is the exact recipe. 🙂
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Beautiful cornbread, love the texture.
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Thank you. The cookbook was wonderful if you happen to come across it. I found it at my public library.
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