Creamed Corn with Garam Masala Butter

Now I've never been a huge fan of creamed corn, too bland and mooshy for my taste, but the garam masala butter piqued my interested so I thought I would give it a whirl for you guys.  Let me tell you, there is a WORLD of difference between canned creamed corn and the fresh-made version.  And the butter, the garam masala gives it an oddly non-sweet sweet taste.  I liked it, I liked it very much and hope you will too.

The recipe is from the August 2012 Bon Appetit magazine, though I halved the recipe since I'm not serving a small army.  I also did not make the garam masala from scratch because, well, I'm a working gal and there's only so much time I have during the week to lavish on the fancy stuff, besides, I had enough of the pre-made left in my spice cabinet to cover this recipe.

Creamed Corn with Garam Masala Butter
page 79, Bon Appetit, August 2012 -- recipe halved and directions paraphrased

5 large ears corn, husked
1/4 cup water
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 tsp minced garlic (1-1/2 cloves)
1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus more
2-1/4 tsp garam masala

Cut kernels from cobs in to a large bowl (should make about 4 cups). Scrape cobs with the back of a large knife to release juices into bowl.  I cut mine into a glass baking dish to give myself some room to maneuver, I would use whatever kind of dish you are most comfortable with.

Combine half the kernels with juice (2 cups) and 1/4 cup water in a blender; puree until smooth.

Melt 1 tbsp butter in  a large saucepan over low heat.  Stir in onion, garlic, and 1/2 tsp salt.  Cover and cook about 10 minutes, stirring often until onion is soft and translucent.  Do NOT brown.  The recipe in the magazine said to add water by the tablespoons if your onions dry while cooking, but I found that I didn't need to because the cover helped keep in moisture.

Add pureed corn and remaining kernels and cook, stirring occasionally until corn is tender, about 10 minutes.  Stir in 1 tbsp of butter and salt to taste.  I bumped up the heat to medium-low to help with the cooking, my corn was tender, but still had a little crisp to it which I liked.  You can cook for longer until it's the consistency you want.

Heat remaining 2 tbsp of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add 2-1/4 tsp garam masala and a pinch of salt.  Whisk until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

Drizzle over creamed corn.  Tasty and different (in a good way)!