Corn fritters

A comment I commonly get in Portugal is that "American food" doesn't exist, that it just copies several international dishes. Many say, "Even hotdogs and hamburgers aren't really from America, they're from Germany!

So fritters intrigued me because of being a "real" American food from the South. I'd never eaten them before, but basically they are just simple corn and flour cakes. There is even a National Corn Fritters Day! I made them as dinner, which was perfect because I came home really late and they were pretty fast, but apparently they are meant to be a snack or side dish.

The ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 egg

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup water

2 cups corn

1/2 green bell pepper

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 garlic powder

The recipe:

Beat the egg together with lemon and water. Mix in with flour, baking powder, salt, cumin and paprika.

Add corn and green pepper.

Heat a frying pan with enough oil to cover the bottom. Place a large spoonful of batter in hot oil to make each fritter. (Batter makes about 6 fritters)

Fry for 3-5 minutes per side, until golden.

To make a dipping sauce, combine vinegar, sugar, pepper flakes, salt and garlic powder in a small saucepan. Boil for 5-10 minutes. I used red wine vinegar instead of rice vinegar and it was kind of gross. :/

Serve with dipping sauce. I switched to BBQ sauce and then to ketchup... my dipping sauce didn't turn out so well!