Cachapas with Roasted Tomatoes and Creamed Avocado

Serves 4 (makes 8 cachapas)

Takes 25 minutes

This South American inspired breakfast or brunch is lovely; the sweet/savoury taste of the cachapas (a sort of corn pancake) going very well with the light, sweet creamy avocado mix and the rich, juicy tomatoes. A blob of fiery chipotle sauce on the side of the plate goes incredibly well with it too. The cachapas mix can be made the night before and left in a bowl, under cling film, in the fridge, and the cold cachapas are lovely next day


Roasted tomatoes:-

16 cherry tomatoes

a good trickle of olive oil

salt and pepper

Cachapas:-

225g frozen sweet corn kernels, defrosted

90g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

70ml milk

2 tbsp finely chopped chives

1 tbsp finely chopped coriander stalks

groundnut oil or butter to fry

(smoked) salt and pepper

Avocado cream:-

1 avocado

juice of half a lime

1 tbsp crème fraiche

(smoked) salt and pepper

To serve:-

Chopped coriander leaves and chipotle sauce


  • Heat the oven to 160C. Place the tomatoes in a small baking dish, trickle with olive oil and season well and roast for 15 minutes

  • Meanwhile, whiz up the avocado cream to make a smooth paste, and season

  • To make the cachapa batter, blitz half of the corn kernels in a blender until smooth. Set aside. Put the flour, baking powder and seasoning (it can take a fair amount of salt) in a large bowl, and crack in the eggs. Stir well and slowly add the milk to make a lump-free batter. Add the creamed and whole sweet corn, chives, and coriander stalks and stir until well blended

  • Heat a large non-stick frying pan and add a little groundnut oil (or butter, or combination of the two). When hot, add a heaped tablespoon of the batter on either side of the pan. They will spread out a bit, but shouldn’t touch each other. Cook on a medium heat for 3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Put on a plate and keep warm in the oven, repeat with the rest of the batter

  • Pile 2-3 cachapas on each plate, and serve with the roasted tomatoes, the avocado cream, and coriander leaves, with the chipotle sauce on the side