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Pancakes take a lemony Hawaiian twist

Recipe: Lemon-coconut corn cakes with coconut syrup

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED FEB 12, 2023

Garnish these Hawaiian-inspired pancakes with lemon and coconut. Debbie Arrington

A recent trip to Kauai inspired this twist on an old favorite – including the corn part.

While vacationing on the island’s south shore, we met a corn expert from Iowa. His company was working on new corn hybrids, developed on the island’s western slopes. Since most of the Hawaiian Islands never experience winter (as we mainlanders do), corn can grow year round – making it an ideal place to test new varieties.

Likely story, I thought when I heard his occupation while grilling at our beach-side resort. Who wouldn’t want to escape Midwest snow to monitor corn on Kauai? But when we ventured to the west side of the island past Hanapepe and Waimea, we discovered – sure enough – vast cornfields where sugar cane once grew, all part of ag-science research.

4 pancakes, 1 brown and done, other 3 with bubbles — Flip the pancakes when bubbles form.

That got me craving corn cakes, but with an island twist. I wanted something as sunny as those western slopes with a little taste of the tropics, too.

When I got home to Sacramento, the combination of lemon and coconut worked beautifully in these corn cakes, lightened with lemon yogurt. The result was similar to a lemon-polenta cake. Coconut syrup was the perfect topper. Who knew that corn cakes could be tropical, too?

Lemon-coconut corn cakes

Makes 10 to 12 corn cakes

Ingredients:

½ cup cornmeal

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ cup lemon yogurt

½ cup low-fat milk

1 egg

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter, cooled

½ cup flaked or shredded coconut plus more for garnish

Butter for griddle

Instructions:

6 pancakes on a griddle — Don't press on pancakes when they're cooking.

In a mixing bowl, sift together cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

In a smaller bowl, mix together yogurt and milk. Beat in egg. Add lemon juice, zest and baking soda.

Add yogurt-lemon mixture to dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Add oil or melted butter. Fold in coconut.

Heat griddle and melt butter. Ladle batter onto griddle, spacing cakes apart; corn cakes will almost double in size. When bubbles form on top (about 2 or 3 minutes), flip cakes. Cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from griddle and keep warm.

Serve with butter and coconut syrup. Top with shredded coconut, if desired.

Coconut syrup: In a small saucepan, combine ½ cup coconut milk and ½ cup sugar. Over medium heat, bring to boil, stirring often. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Store in refrigerator.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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