Cafe owner Lila Macapagal is excited to participate in her hometown of Shady Palms’ thirty-fifth annual Corn Festival. She and her business partners Adeena Awan and Elena Torres have been busy cooking up various beverages and baked goods that feature corn, to be offered at the booth they’ve set up for the festival. Their wares are received enthusiastically, especially after Mayor Judy Reyes of the neighboring town of Shelbyville gives them a public endorsement, causing their booth to sell out of both food and drink in record time.

With this unexpected surplus of free time now on their hands, the three friends decide to make a competition of the festival’s famed corn maze, splitting up to see who will finish first. But as they’re each navigating the delightfully creepy maze, Lila hears an ear-splitting scream. Her immediate instinct is to run towards the source and offer help. She’s shocked to discover Adeena, of all people, passed out in the corn maze, clutching a bloody knife next to the stabbed corpse of the mayor’s wife.

Unsurprisingly, Adeena swiftly falls under suspicion of murder, especially since the dead woman had been openly flirting with Adeena’s girlfriend Elena only hours earlier. Given their prior experiences with the Shady Palms’ police department, Lila and her friends are unwilling to leave the investigation to the authorities. But their efforts are stymied by an unusual obstacle: a newfound friction between the three owners of the Brew-ha Cafe. While Elena wants to protect Adeena at all costs, Lila just wants to charge in and get answers to clear her best friend’s name. Worse, neither of them are really listening to Adeena. Even if they manage to find the real killer, will all of their relationships survive this ordeal?

I really enjoyed this clever culinary cozy mystery that also takes a good hard look at the complexities of friendship and betrayal. It’s been so great to follow along as Lila’s rebuilt her life and community since moving back to Shady Pines from Chicago. Mirroring Lila’s own increased maturity and more assured style of detection, this fifth installment of the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen mystery series felt like a confident move into the future.

There were four recipes included here, all featuring both corn and either Lila’s Filipina or Elena’s Mexican heritage. Corn can be a hard sell for my family, so I decided to try out the simplest of these dishes:

Lola Flor’s Ginataang Mais

Ingredients

½ cup glutinous rice (sometimes called “sweet rice” or “sticky rice”)

2 (14-ounce) cans coconut milk (light or full-fat)

Pinch of salt

1 ½ to 2 cups fresh or frozen corn OR 1 (12-ounce) can whole corn kernels, drained

½ cup granulated sugar

Instructions

Put the rice, coconut milk, and salt in a medium pot and bring to a boil.

Lower the heat and simmer the mixture for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often so the rice doesn’t stick together or to the bottom of the pot.

Add the corn and sugar, stirring everything together, and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes until the rice is cooked to your desired softness and the coconut milk has reached your desired thickness. Don’t forget to stir occasionally!

Let cool slightly and serve. The coconut milk will thicken as it cools. If the mixture gets too thick, add some water, milk, or coconut milk, and reheat slowly. Enjoy!

This was tasty and, barring the amount of time spent standing over the stove and stirring (which I did while reading a book,) was quite easy to prepare. My corn-indifferent family liked it well enough, though we did have plenty of leftovers to share with our neighbors. I might make this again with raisins (my eldest child’s suggestion) or cranberries (my own idea) as the sticky rice and coconut base mixture with sugar is super delicious. If you do like corn, I recommend using canned instead of frozen, as it will cook faster and thus require that much less stirring.

Next week, we whip up another sweet treat while attempting to clear another best friend’s name in a brand new series debut. Do join me!

See Also: Cooking the Books: In the Blink of a Pie by Catherine Bruns