SOUTHERN HUSH PUPPIES & MY LAST MEME!

Mansi from "Fun and Food" blog has asked us to make some snacks, drinks for the all the games that are going on here these days. This event is called "Game Night Party" and I am bringing my favorite crunchy and delicious "Southern Hush Puppies". Thanks Mansi, enjoy!:)



About Hush Puppies:
These traditional southern Hush puppies, also called "corn dodgers", are made of mixing plain flour and corn meal with added spices with a hint of sweet and they do make the most delicious, crispy, handy snack for any game night. There are several stories about how these little snacks came to be called "Hush Puppies".
According to WIKI, here are some interesting stories;
1. The name “Hush puppies” is often attributed to hunters or fisherman who would quickly fry corn meal and feed it to their dogs to “hush the puppies” during cook outs or fish frys.
2. The other legend surrounding the Hush Puppy dates back to Civil War days. Southern soldiers would sit beside a campfire, preparing their meals. When Union soldiers came near, they would toss their barking dogs some of the fried cakes with the command "Hush, puppies".
3. During the time of the underground railroads, escaping slaves would feed these to the dogs tracking them while coaxing them with hopeful commands such as "hush, puppies"!

Southern Hush Puppies:

You need:
1 cup white or yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup plain flour,
1 tbsp Soy Flour(my addition,not traditional. Optional)
2 tsp baking powder,
1/2 cup buttermilk,
1 tablespoon sugar,
1/8 tsp Baking soda,
1 egg, beaten (optional for vegetarians),
1/4 cup finely chopped onion,
1 tsp garlic pd,
1/2 tsp chilli flakes or chilli pd or minced Jalapeños,
2 tbsp hot oil and enough water and salt.

To make them:
1. Heat oil to 370F or on medium high heat. Meanwhile, add and mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Add all the liquid to the dry flour, mix first to see the consistency and then add enough water to make a thickish batter like we make for Indian Pakoda batter. Adjust the spices, let it rest for 15 mins. Do not make the batter thin, Hush puppies will become hard.
3. When oil is hot enough, with the help of a spoon, drop little balls of that thick batter in to the oil and fry both sides until they are golden. Drain on paper towel.
4. Stick a few attractive toothpicks in them and serve with Ketchup or spicy Mayonnaise.

Traditionally in the south, these are served with fried Cat fish.

Other snacks you could choose to make for game night:

Cheddar Cheese Spritz,
Chana dal Vadas,
Fenugreek leaves and cornmeal fritters
Spinach Pakodas.

Enjoy!:))

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Dhanggit from "Dhanggit's kitchen" and Uma tagged me for this "Five favorites" MeMe. Reading her MeMe makes mine very bland in fact but I will try it anyway!:)
This would be my last MeMe. I have revealed myself enough already with all those MeMes I have done so far.There is nothing else to tell, don't you think? :D
Thanks for the tag Dhanggit!:))

What were you cooking/baking 10 years ago?
10yrs ago, I had a 6yr old and a 2 yr old kids!! What else but I was baking cakes shaped like cars, trucks and butterflies, topped with colorful frosting and sprinkles!

What were you cooking/baking one year ago?
A year ago, I was experimenting with Creme Brulee after tasting it in the restaurants. Breaking the hard caramelized sugar crust and digging into the most luscious creamy custard inside made me want to try at home! It was a great success but so much heavy cream makes me hesitate to make it often but will try again and post it for you next time.It's a beautiful dessert!

Five snacks you enjoy:
1. Chakli (Indian)
2. Kodubale (Karnataka)
3. Cheddar Cheese Spritz cookies
4. Spinach and Feta Spanakopita
5. Spinach Pakodas (Indian)

Five recipes you know by heart:
All of the above!!

Five culinary luxuries you would indulge in if you were a millionaire:
Well...
1. A World tour and to taste every cuisine in the World!! Egypt, China, Russia etc. I would love that.
2. A HUGE kitchen with marble counter top, walk in pantry and all that!:)
3. Every modern kitchen gadgets I can get my hands on!!
4. I have more than 200 cookbooks in 2 1/2 bookshelves and spilling over! I do need a walk in library right next to the pantry!:D
5. I will never allow anybody else to cook in my kitchen, so I do need several appliance to make it easy for me!:D

Five foods you love to cook/bake:
1. Any traditional Indian dish which calls for elaborate preparation.
2. My grandmothers' dishes, makes me feel good and eel at home.
3. Baking bread. I love the smell of freshly baked bread.
4. Making Cardamom flavored Indian sweets, reminds me of India and the festivals.
5. Pizza! And the way it makes my kids eyes twinkle and make them smile from ear to ear!:D

Five foods you cannot/will not eat:
1. Octopus, fried or not.
2. Any whole Fish with head intact and eyes wide open staring at you.
3. Caviar.
4. Sushi.
5. Worms! Like those contestants who chew them on TV shows to win a million dollar! They can keep the million dollar, thank you very much!:D

Five favorite culinary toys:
1. My KitchenAid Mixer/blender (don't know what would I do without it!:D) and all my Calphalon Total pots and pans!:)
2. My flat surfaced electric cooking range, so easy to clean, looks great and so efficient too.
3. My bread box Machine, specially to make any kind of dough.
4. Ice cream machine, which makes the creamiest Ice Cream!
5. All those little kitchen gadgets like Ravioli maker, Gnocchi board, Wafle maker, Panini press, sandwich maker etc. Not essential to a kitchen but makes my cooking easier and fun too.

Five dishes on your "last meal" menu:
Oh, this is morbid!!:D
I want to live for now and not think about my "last meal"!!:D
Besides, who cares about last meal when you are about say "Sayonara" to the World!! I want to see my kids before I go! HeHe!

Five happy food memories:
1. Cappuccino in Venice, Italy! It gave me a stomach ache after the fact but was happy to be sipping that THERE!:D
2. First time I ate Creme Brulee and the sensation of crack and swoosh into that delicious custard!
3. Eating Bhelpuri from the street cart as a teenager in Belgaum, India with another teenage boy standing beside me munching on Pav Bhaji! Can you guess who? That would be me and Arvind, same guy I am married to for 21 yrs!!!:D
4. Looking at my kids happily gobbling up the food I make and say "thank you mommy"! What more happiness could a mother need?!:)
5. Lastly, one happy (and almost silly!) memory is associated with Switzerland for us, not necessarily connected to their traditional cuisine though. I am not saying they don't have great food, they do!
But let me tell ya, after eating all those almost unfamiliar food in small Swiss towns where they don't have fast food restaurants like UK or US, we drove to Zürich for sight seeing and we saw a McDonald there for the first time in a week!!! Oh boy!! We were soooo happy!!! We were literally hopping and skipping to that Mickey D's! Hahaha!!!

That's it for the MeMes!! Enjoy the rest of the week!:)