Bhutta Recipes: 6 Monsoon-Special Corn Dishes To Try

Be it the bhuna bhutta charred over street-side embers or corn-based gravies served in restaurants, corn is one of the rainy-day staples that never fails to impress. If you’d like to try bhutta recipes this monsoon, here is a curated list of snacks, tea-time bites, soups, and much more.

When you walk through any Indian city between July and September, you’d see carts on the roadsides selling corn in a variety of ways since fresh corn is harvested right at the onset of the monsoon season. From boiled sweet corn kernels to bhuna bhutta to corn chaat, the sweet and starchy crunch works perfectly with a chill in the air and your evening chai. 

Since corn is cheap, cooks fast, has a sweet taste, and takes on spice and tang perfectly, it rightly deserves to be a monsoon highlight. Whether you want to have a soup to soothe your throat, pair a crunchy snack with your evening beverage, make a quick chaat for kids, or pair gravies with makki ki roti, here are some bhutta recipes that you can’t miss out.

Bhuna Bhutta

No monsoon corn list starts anywhere else. Bhuna bhutta, corn roasted directly over open coals or an open flame of your gas stove, is the dish every roadside cart in the country is built around. The corn gets husked, held over the heat with tongs or a skewer, and turned constantly until the kernels blister, char slightly at the edges, and give off that smoky, sweet smell corn only gets from direct fire. The finishing touch is a half-cut lemon dipped in salt, red chilli powder, and roasted cumin, then rubbed hard across the hot cob so the masala works its way into every kernel.

What makes bhuna bhutta work is the contrast: char against sweetness, citrus against heat, all of it eaten standing up under a shared umbrella with rain running off the edges. Some vendors rub butter on the cob before roasting, for extra richness. Others skip the salt-chilli mix entirely and just dust the cob with chaat masala. Either way, it’s corn with almost nothing done to it, which is probably why it’s stuck around this long.

Bhutta Ka Kees

Bhutta ka kees is an Indore speciality that turns corn into something closer to a spiced, savoury porridge, and it deserves to be better known outside Madhya Pradesh. Fresh kernels are grated straight off the cob rather than chopped, which gives the dish its soft, almost creamy texture. The grated corn cooks in a non-stick kadai in a mustard-and-curry-leaf tempering with green chillies, a splash of milk, and a spoonful of sugar to balance the natural sweetness against the heat. Freshly grated coconut goes in near the end, along with lime juice and chopped coriander.

The result is silky, mildly sweet, and gently spicy, tasting like it took more effort than it did. In Indore, it’s usually eaten warm out of a bowl, using little more than a spoon. On a rainy evening, the steam still rising off the bowl is most of the appeal.

Corn Chaat

If bhuna bhutta is corn at its plainest, corn chaat is the dressed-up version. Kernels are boiled in a multicooker or lightly sautéed in butter until just tender, then tossed with finely chopped onions, tomatoes, green chillies, and coriander. The seasoning does the real work here: chaat masala, black salt, roasted cumin powder, and a good squeeze of lime, sometimes finished with tamarind chutney or a spoonful of whisked curd for a Mumbai-style version. Crushed roasted peanuts or sev on top add crunch.

Corn Bhajji

In India, monsoon and pakoras go hand in hand. To make corn fritters, you can use fresh or lightly crushed kernels, fold them into a besan batter with rice flour for crispiness, chopped onions, green chillies, ginger, ajwain for digestion, and a bit of red chilli powder for heat. Spoonfuls go into hot oil and fry until deep golden and crackly outside, while the corn inside stays juicy and slightly sweet, popping with each bite. You can also use an air fryer to minimise the oil and make the bhajjis healthier. The crispy shell and the sweet inside are what keep people coming back to this street-style rainy-day snack.

Sweet Corn Soup

During the changing season and the chill rains that come with it, people crave soup more than usual. Sweet corn soup features kernels simmering in stock with ginger, garlic, and shredded carrots and spring onions. A well-made version balances savoury depth against the corn’s natural sweetness, and a dash of white pepper and soy sauce at the end adds a bit of umami. For an egg-drop version, beaten egg gets drizzled in right at the end, forming thin ribbons through the soup.

Makki Ki Roti

This one moves from snack territory into an actual meal. Traditionally associated with Punjab, makai ki roti is made from corn flour (makki ka atta) kneaded with warm water, often with grated radish or ajwain mixed in for flavour, since corn flour has no gluten and doesn’t hold together as easily as wheat dough. The dough gets patted out by hand instead of rolled with a pin, which is why the roti ends up uneven and slightly rough-edged, then cooked on a hot griddle until it picks up golden-brown spots and a bit of char.

It holds up well against rich sides: a slab of white butter melting into the hot roti, served with saag or just curd and pickle, makes for a filling, no-frills meal. Slightly grainy and a little sweet, it suits a day when the rain isn’t stopping anytime soon.