I got this recipe from one of my roommates, who in turn got it from a girl he knew from India. Apparently she toned it down quite a bit from the corn you get on the actual street in actual India, because "it would be too much and you wouldn't like it". I have not had street corn in actual India, and thus cannot really compare the recipes. But. It is still a lovely, spicy, salty, lemony, and vegan side dish. You should make it; it will be good.
You need:
A grill full of very hot coals, with a grate on which to cook things.
As many ears of fresh sweet corn as you want.
Lemons. I used three for ten ears of corn, but you are apparently supposed to use LOTS AND LOTS.
Spices: paprika, curry powder, cayenne pepper, salt (sea salt is good) and pepper.
A shallow dish. We used an 8x12x2 inch casserole dish.
Husk your ears of corn and put them in the dish. Squeeze a lemon or two over them, and rotate the ears such that they have a good amount of lemon juice on them. Spice liberally with paprika, curry, cayenne, salt and pepper, turning to get spice on all sides of each ear. Use as much spice as you want; you want this pretty spicy, but it might be a good idea to test one one ear of corn first, and see how spicy you like it. The spices should stick on reasonably well, considering the stickiness of the lemon, but you are going to get some in the bottom of the pan. This is fine; you are going to use the leftover spice-lemon juice mixture to baste the corn.
Let it all hang out and marinate for a bit while the coals get hot, turning the ears every once in a while to get more lemon flavor going. You want it to be really hot, but keep in mind that we didn't exactly get out the thermometer to check the coals; use your judgement. When you're ready, put the corn directly on the grill. Use slices of lemon to baste. You can also lay slices of lemon directly on the ears, if you want. The slices will fall in the fire at strategic intervals, whereupon you can replace them with new slices.
Cover the grill, but keep checking and basting every couple minutes. Turn the ears as they start to blacken. Blackening is what you are going for here; you want the degree of blackening to be fairly even all over each ear. I was trying to go for a good golden brown, myself, but you will probably end up with patches of blackening. This is fine. Just keep turning and basting until you are satisfied.
When things are blackened enough for you, take them off the grill. LET THEM COOL for a second--these things have just been over open flame--then eat them. Your lips may have some reaction to all the lemon and salt, especially if chapped and cracked, but they will numb enough to keep eating in a second.
Street corn is a dramatic change from standard barbecue fare, and a much-needed vegan option if there are any vegans about. We have hypothesized that you can achieve a similiar effect with corn and spices wrapped in tinfoil packets in a campfire; we haven't tried this yet, but go for it if you so desire.
Yay street corn! That is all.