Corn potage is probably the most popular western-style soup in Japan. Although, its origin is kind of mysterious, this corn soup is favored by many Japanese people. And you can make it from scratch, too!
What is Corn Potage?
A potage has its origin in France and it refers to a thick creamy soup. However, there is no western recipe for corn potage on the internet. You would mostly find Japanese corn potage recipes.
In Japan, corn potage is a creamy corn soup made of fresh, canned or frozen corn, onion, milk, and heavy cream. You would use the word potage, when the soup is blended and strained to achieve creamy, silky and very smooth consistency. When the soup is not blended or only half of it is blended so you have more watery consistency with corn chunks in it, you would refer to it as a soup.
What is the Origin of Japanese Corn Soup?
There are actually no stories on how this soup became so popular in Japan. It may have been inspired by French cuisine as the word potage is French. Moreover, using milk and heavy cream in Japanese recipes is unusual even today, let alone in the past in more traditional dishes.
When it comes to Japanese, they are real pros in taking dishes from other countries cuisines and twisting and adapting it to their taste. So some weird combinations were created. There is also a word for western style dishes in Japan – Yoshoku.
Over the years, this corn soup somehow became popular throughout Japan. It’s so popular that there is also a flavor corn potage for various Japanese snacks. Even the vending machines offer a hot corn soup. You might even find it at Christmas markets in Tokyo, especially near the famous Tokyo Sky Tree Tower (at least, the soup was served there in 2023). Alongside traditional German dishes and Christmas punch, only this soup managed to make its way to the Christmas markets. You can read more about what Christmas looks like in Japan here.
A lot of Japanese wouldn’t make this soup at home as they can easily buy it pre-made or in a form of an instant powder. For the Japanese market, also the well known company Knorr produce this soup. But making this soup at home is really simple and you don’t need any special Japanese ingredients.
How to Make Corn Potage?
There are three ways you can make a Japanese corn soup:
- Using fresh corn
- Using frozen corn
- Using canned corn
Using fresh or frozen corn is probably the easiest way and I also used a canned corn in this recipe. If you use a fresh corn, use also the cobs. Cook them with the corn together as they will release more flavor.
Adjust the ratio of milk and heavy cream
You can use either milk or cream. Or both. And the ratio is up to you. If you like more rich and creamy consistency, then add more heavy cream.
Use water for the soup
I would recommend using only water and not vegetable or chicken broth. This soup should let the taste of the corn shine through.
The consistency is up to you
You can make the soup smooth or leave some corn chunks in it. But if you want to try the original corn potage as it is consumed in Japan, then I recommend straining it using a fine mesh sieve to achieve that smooth silky consistency.
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Corn Potage (Japanese Corn Soup)
Video
Ingredients
- 1 can of corn
- 1/2 smaller onion
- 10 g butter
- 250 ml water
- 100 ml whole milk
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- Pinch of paprika
- 2 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Cut the onion into thin slices.
- Heat the butter in a pot and add the sliced onion. Add a pinch of salt and sauté until translucent.
- Add the corn (without the water from the can), pinch of paprika and salt. Feel free the adjust the amount of salt.
- Add water and let it simmer for about 3 - 5 minutes.
- Use a blender (food processor or immersion blender) to blend the soup until creamy.
- Use mesh sieve to strain the soup.
- Transfer the soup back to the pot and add milk and heavy cream. The ratio is up to you. Let it simmer for 5 minutes or more if you feel like you still have too much water in the soup so it will evaporate.
- Sprinkle with parsley or other herbs. I used aonori (nori flakes).
Itadakimas!
