Corn Fritters

Yes, corn fritters.

Corn fritters are basically deep fried balls of corn bread. How could anyone not love them? That's what I was thinking as I was pondering a way to alter a pakora recipe into something boyfriend friendly. Boyfriend friendly recipes often resemble kid friendly recipes in that they can't be too spicy, occasionally hide certain vegetables with a yummy sauce, and are always made more palatable by the addition of ketchup and/or cheese (but not strong tasting aged cheese... or goat cheese!).

I recently found garbanzo flour at the local produce market and instantly had pakoras on my mind. As soon as I arrived home, I shot into the kitchen in hopes of bringing a bit of Indian wonderment into our lives. The boyfriend was excited for lunch. His excitement dulled a bit when he realized that it contained cauliflower (instant boyfriend friendly fail ingredient). It dulled even more when he tasted the pakoras.

"They taste like Indian."

"You like Indian food," I replied.

"....Yeeeeaaaaaah..... but these just have a generic Indian food flavor that I don't like. Mlech, and the texture is weird. I'm going to back to bed. Sorryyyyyy! I wuv you!"

It was unfortunate, because I really liked them. Garbanzo flour is so good for you and there are so few recipes that call for it. I was determined to cross pakoras with a guaranteed boyfriend friendly food in order to satisfy the both of us.

Then it came to me. Corn fritters. Not often the answer to life's little dilemmas, but this time they did the trick.

The recipe below is a highly altered version of this recipe for corn fritters from allrecipes.com. (A great website, by the way.) You could substitute any vegetable or mix of vegetables that strikes your fancy for the corn. You can also use white flour, whole wheat flour, or corn meal in place of the garbanzo flour if you don't have it on hand. I'm planning on doing some additional tweaking in order to squeeze more garbanzo flour in. Shhhh, don't tell!

Allie Loves Her Boyfriend Fritters aka Spiced Corn Fritters

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup garbanzo flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 - 3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup frozen or fresh corn kernels, defrosted if frozen
1/2 small onion, diced
oil for frying (I used sunflower oil)


Mix together the dry ingredients. Add the corn and onion, stir until combined. Beat the egg with 1/2 cup milk. Add the liquid to the batter and stir well. Add additional milk, one tablespoon at a time, if needed in order to reach the desired consistency. You want a batter about the thickness of muffin batter.

Drop tablespoons of batter into hot oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side or until evenly browned. Drain on paper towels. Keep in a warm oven until all fritters are done.

Serve with sweet chili sauce or ketchup for extra boyfriend/kid friendly bonus points!