Dessert

Well Bay Islanders, this one’s for you!  For those of you who’ve never been to Roatan or any of the Bay Islands, the chances are that you’ve never heard of this dessert. So allow me to introduce you to — Corn Rice!

This dessert has everything to do with corn but has absolutely nothing to do with rice, so I have no idea how or who came up with name “Corn Rice.”  The only reason I can think of is that it is similar to rice pudding, but you make it from corn instead of rice.

I am pretty sure that I’m not alone in saying that Corn Rice is an all-time favorite Bay Island dessert!  It’s right up there with Yuca Cake and Rice Cake, but although most islanders love to eat it, not many of them make it.  It is pretty rare to find Corn Rice these days, and after numerous attempts at making it for this recipe, I now know why! If you’ve been following this blog, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted in awhile.  Well, this recipe is the reason it came to a screeching halt.

Making Corn Rice

Before I set out to make Corn Rice, I honestly didn’t realize how complicated it was. I had heard that you needed to boil dried corn in “ashes” to make hominy corn and so I thought – “It can’t be that complicated (eye-roll); I’ll just use my InstantPot, and get it done in no time!”

Although I had seen short-cut Corn Rice recipes before, I didn’t like the ones that I tried.  To me, they tasted nothing like “real” Corn Rice. For one, I don’t like hominy with the hulls attached to the kernels.  Secondly, most recipes used sweetened condensed milk, which to me never tasted like the real thing.

I wanted to make authentic Bay Island Corn Rice. You know? From actual corn and from scratch. So I did a bit more research on Google on how to make hominy and I asked every local I knew that had experience with it.  And the basic consensus was —  Corn Rice is a lot of work!

And boy were they right…

Making Hominy

Making hominy from scratch is very time-consuming.  First, you soak dried corn kernels overnight. You then boil them in alkaline water for several hours or as long as it takes for the outer shell to dissolve and the hulls to release. There are a few ways to get alkaline water, but the typical way in the Bay Islands is by using wood ash along with baking soda, which helps remove the hard tips of the kernels.  Once the corn is finished boiling in the alkaline water, you then have to wash the corn to remove the hulls and tips of each little kernel. One. By. One. It’s a long and arduous, back-breaking process; so kudos to anyone who makes Corn Rice the real old-fashioned way.

To make a long story short, my journey in making Corn Rice lead me to one conclusion — Corn Rice will fade into the pages of Bay Island history if an easier way of making it isn’t figured out.  For one, nobody has the time these days, and secondly, islanders no longer cook on wood stoves. So, in frustration and defeat, I resorted to the canned hominy corn I so despised.  But after trying several brands, Bush’s Best White Hominy, Maiz Pozolero is a winner! The White Hominy (not Golden Hominy) does a great job of mimicking the homemade hominy corn in Bay Island Corn Rice. And after many tries and tweaks, this recipe tastes just like the real thing.

Best of all, you can have a bowl of Bay Island goodness in less than 20 minutes. No matter where you live.

I hope you enjoy!

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Corn Rice

A one-of-a-kind Bay Island dessert.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Caribbean

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 12 servings

Calories 119 kcal

Author Joni Galindo

Ingredients

• 4 Cans Bush's Best White Hominy Corn 15.5 oz
• 1 Can Coconut Milk 14 oz.
• 3 Cups Whole Milk
• 2 Tbs. Corn Starch
• 1 - 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 2 Tbs. Vanilla
• 1 Tbs. Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. Salt

Instructions

1. Open cans of Hominy Corn.

2. Drain and rinse corn well.

3. Combine coconut milk, whole milk, and cornstarch in a large pot.

4. Whisk to dissolve the cornstarch.

5. Next, add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

6. Bring to a slow boil over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved.

7. Add hominy corn.

8. Add salt 1/4 tsp at a time, tasting in between and adjust if needed.

9. Continue to cook over medium to high heat until sauce is thickened.

Recipe Notes

Canned Hominy is very salty, so be sure that you drain them of all the water and rinse them well before adding. Taste before adding the salt at the end.  You may not need to add the full 1/2 teaspoon of salt and will depend on how well you wash the corn.

 

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If you love the taste of fresh corn, then you’re going to love this Corn Custard recipe!

Even though I’m partial to anything made with corn, I can tell you with all honesty that this recipe is a real winner! I guarantee that you’re going love it.

I’ve had this Corn Custard recipe ever since my mother gave me a book of old island recipes she’d collected over the years. That little book, by the way, was the inspiration behind my starting this blog and I’m slowly getting to each of the recipes in the book. So far I’ve shared the Rice Cake, Yuca Cake, Five Minute Chocolate Cake and now — Corn Custard!

I made this recipe a couple of months ago but I didn’t like the way it turned out.  I thought it was because I didn’t have the right size pan because it was a little thin and there wasn’t much custard on top. The original recipe was twice this amount and I didn’t have a casserole dish big enough. So this time I made half the recipe and I learned, while chatting with Aunt Betty about making Duff a few weeks ago, that the secret to making this recipe is homemade cornmeal. Yes — homemade cornmeal! Don’t pass out! 😅 Read on to find out how easy it is to make.

DIY Cornmeal

Making homemade cornmeal takes only a few minutes and you’ll make good use of dried corn that you couldn’t eat any other way.  The traditional way would be to grate the corn by hand, but I prefer to use my  Cuisinart Food Processor to save time and to save my fingers from a few scratches!

Simply take the kernels off the cob, add to the food processor, and blend until smooth! That’s it.   That’s all it takes to make cornmeal. See this step in the beginning of the video.

Corn Custard Recipe Video

This recipe uses only one cup of cornmeal which you could get from two to three ears of corn. But if you end up with more, just store the rest in a Ziploc bag in the freezer and it’ll be ready to go the next time you need it.

Get the full recipe and details below!

5 from 2 votes

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Corn Custard

Traditional Corn Custard from the Bay Islands with homemade cornmeal.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Caribbean

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 8

Calories 344 kcal

Author Betty Hyde

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Cornmeal Homemade if possible
• 3 Eggs
• 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Tbs. Butter
• 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/4 Tsp. Salt
• 3 Cups Milk
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚ Fahrenheit.
2. Whisk three eggs.
3. Mix butter, sugar, and half the eggs.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder, and cornmeal.
5. Add dry ingredients to the sugar, butter, and egg mixture.
6. Then add the remaining eggs, milk, and vanilla.
7. Pour the mixture into a 1.5 quart (approx. 6 cups) casserole baking dish and bake for an hour-and-a-half.

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If you’ve made this recipe, let me know in the comments section below!  I’d love to hear how it turned out.

Rice cake is one of the many cakes made in the Bay Islands known as “pot cakes.”

The main ingredient in these types of cakes is a starchy vegetable, fruit or grain. You then add coconut milk, eggs, spices, and other ingredients and bake for a long time in a large pot or pan. Before baking, the batter is very liquid because most recipes have minimal flour if any. And through the process of baking, the batter becomes a custard-like deliciousness called a pot cake!

Cooking and serving them right out of the  “pot” is the reason for the name. Types of pot cakes include Yuca Cake, Cocoa Cake, Pumpkin Cake, Irish Potato Cake, Heavy Banana Cake, and today a — Rice Cake!

Of all the pot cakes made in the Bay Islands, the Rice Cake is probably the easiest and most common, mainly because rice is such an essential pantry item that most people always have it on hand. This is a great go-to recipe for family gatherings or events where you’re asked to bring dessert for a crowd!

There are dozens of rice cake recipes with different variations and personal touches.  This rice cake recipe is my mothers, with one change – I used coconut oil instead of shortening. The coconut oil I use has a mild flavor, and a gave a slight hint of coconut that was perfect.

Steps to making rice cake:

Begin with one-and-a-half cups of plain white rice (not parboiled rice).

Cook rice with six cups of water until the majority of the water has been absorbed.

Add one can of coconut milk and one can of evaporated milk.

Then add sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Add 1/3 cup of coconut oil. (The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of butter or shortening, but here is where I swapped it out for coconut oil and reduced the measurement.)

Allow the rice to cool a bit then add two well-beaten eggs. (If the rice is still warm, add them slowly and stir constantly to avoid scrambling the eggs.)

Then pour the mixture into a pan or “pot” deep enough to leave a little room at the top. (I used a 13″ x 9″ sheet pan in this recipe.) Then, bake at 350˚ for three hours or until all liquid is absorbed and the cake is golden brown on top.

Once finished baking, remove from oven and drizzle one can of condensed milk over the top then bake for 10 minutes longer.

The finishing touch of adding condensed milk on top then baking a bit longer, gives this cake a hint of caramel that you’ll love!

Watch the Rice Cake Recipe Video!

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Rice Cake

A traditional island "pot cake," Rice Cake from the Bay Islands.

Course Desserts

Cuisine Caribbean

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 3 hours

Servings 12

Calories 479 kcal

Author Ruby Rose Hyde

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups Rice Uncooked
• 6 Cups Water
• 1/3 Cup Coconut Oil or 1/2 Cup Shortening
• 2 Cups Sugar or to taste
• 12 oz. Evaporated Milk 1 Can
• 14 oz. Coconut Milk 1 Can
• 13 oz. Sweetened Condensed Milk 1 Can
• 1 Tsp. Salt or to taste
• 1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/4 Tsp. Nutmeg
• 2 Eggs well beatened
• 2 pks. Raisins optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚
2. Cook rice in six cups of water until almost all liquid is absorbed.
3. Add evaporated milk and coconut milk.
4. Then add sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and coconut oil or shortening.
5. Mix thoroughly and then add eggs slowly while stirring continuously to avoid scrambling the eggs.
6. Pour into the pan.
7. Bake at 350˚ for 3 hours.
8. Remove from oven and add a layer of sweetened condensed milk.
9. Bake for 10 minutes longer.
10. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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