Family Chow Hall

Hush Puppies

May 31st, 2006

Scrumptious hush puppies - those crispy little lumps of dough with cornmeal and onions in them (they are often served with fish) - can be made in your very own kitchen rather easily.

Last night turned into a “I’ve got to use up all of these leftover” night. My mother used to say, “We’ve got a little bit of everything but not much of anything.” How true that sometimes is.

I had leftover macaroni and cheese, leftover spaghetti sauce, leftover grilled chicken breast, and leftover corn. (And more, but these were the only things I could use.)

The macaroni, spaghetti sauce, and chicken all went into a casserole. I added a little V-8 (I’d frozen a half can of it a couple of weeks ago) and mozzarella cheese. That turned out pretty well.

With the corn, I thought I wanted to make corn fritters, but ended up deciding on hush puppies. Corn fritters are more like a pancake, I’ll save that one for breakfast one of these days.

HUSH PUPPIES
makes 20 hush puppies

3/4 c. cornmeal
1/3 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. sugar
half of a small onion - minced (about 1/4 c. or less)
1/3 c. milk
1 egg, beaten
2/3 c. corn
shortening or lard

Combine the dry ingredients - cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar - in a medium-sized bowl. Next, combine the wet ingredients - onion, milk, egg, and corn - in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and stir until mixed. Heat the shortening in a deep fryer to 375 degrees or in a pot on the stove to medium heat. To test, a drop of water should crackle and spit when dropped in the oil.

Drop by spoonfuls into the hot grease. If you add too many at a time, your grease will cool and you’ll get soggy hush puppies. Instead, take your time and slowly add one plop at a time until the fryer is full. Turn them after a couple of minutes and take them out when they are golden brown. Drain on a wire rack placed over a paper towel.

Enjoy!

Entry Filed under: Bread, Leftovers, Recipes, Side Dishes, Supper, appetizers