Hush Puppies with Roasted Tomato and Chipotle Salsa
Serves: 4
Time: 40 minutes
We have had these before so if you remember them I’m sure you will have loved them. They are balls of crunchy deliciousness which are soft inside and pack some punch in flavour. At the moment with people going crazy in the shops, I’m finding it’s a great time to use up ingredients that most aren’t tending to buy. Polenta and corn seem to be pretty safe. If you can’t find buttermilk, any milk will work and failing that, you could use coconut milk.
Leftovers
Personally I like these cold, if you heat them in the microwave they get a bit soft.
Polenta.
Polenta has a great shelf life so you can store the remainder in a jar in the pantry ready for the next time you make these.
What you'll need
1 cup of polenta
3/4 cup of plain/gluten free or besan flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 tin of corn kernels or use fresh corn
1 1/4 cups of buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 bunch of coriander
2 jalapeno chillies
4 tomatoes
1 red onion
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons chipotle
From the pantry
grapeseed oil or light olive oil
Use Up The Buttermilk
Make buttermilk pancakes in the weekend here's how.
Prep and Cook
Prep and Cook
Preheat Oven to 200c
Mix Batter
In a large bowl combine the polenta, flour, baking powder, buttermilk, egg and 1 cup of corn kernels, mix with 1/2 teaspoon salt and lots of fresh pepper.
Wash the coriander and roughly chop just the stalks and add to the mix along with 1 finely sliced jalapeno.
Mix well then set aside.
Make Salsa
Cut out the tomato core and then slice tomatoes in half.
Peel and roughly chop the onion, and peel garlic.
Combine all in a small roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast for 30 minutes
Heat Oil
These puffs are deep fried so in order to do this, you will need either a deep fryer or a cast iron casserole dish. Never deep fry in a standard pot.
Alternately you can cook them like a fritter in a heavy based frypan and shallow fry.
Fill oil 1/3 of the way up your dish and heat oil to approx 160 degrees celcius. (important: never ever leave hot oil unattended)
Gently and very carefully add dessert spoons of the hush puppies mix into the hot oil, and cook till lightly golden on each side. (Personally, I like to use something small like a table knife to gently nudge them over when they are ready to be turned).
After a couple of minutes when your puppies are nicely golden, remove from the hot oil using a small pair of metal tongs or a slotted metal spoon.
Place on paper towels.
Repeat until your mix is all finished.
Blitz Salsa
Place the roasted tomato mix into a food processor along with the chipotle and pulse till chunky -not smooth. Have a taste and add more seasoning if required.
Plate it Pretty
These hush puppies look cute on baking paper, stack them high and sprinkle with sea salt flakes.
If you have a jar then pop the salsa in that, otherwise a small dipping bowl is perfect. Garnish with coriander and if you want some greens on the side then use up the rest of your rocket.
Enjoy!
Lunch Tomorrow
There are plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow, this mix makes on average 14 balls.