Type | Fritters |
---|---|
Course | Snack |
Place of origin | Native American cuisine |
Region or state | Americas, China, Southeast Asia |
Created by | Native Americans in the United States |
Main ingredients | Corn, egg, flour, milk and butter |
Corn fritters are fried cakes of a dough or batter made of, or containing a featured quantity of maize (corn). Originating in Native American cuisine, they are a traditional sweet and savory snack in the Southern United States, as well as Indonesia where they are known as perkedel jagung or bakwan jagung . [1]
Native Americans had been using ground corn (maize) as food for thousands of years [2] before European explorers arrived in the New World. [3] Corn-based products, such as corn flatbread, arepa and cornbread were staple foods in Pre-Columbian Americas. Native Americans did not use deep frying techniques, however, which require ample supplies of cooking oil as well as equipment in which the oil can be heated to high temperatures.
European settlers learned recipes and processes for corn dishes from Native Americans, and soon devised their own cornmeal-based recipe variations of European breads made from grains available on that continent. The corn fritter probably was invented in the Southern United States, whose traditional cuisine contains a lot of deep fried foods.
On the other side of the world, maize seeds from the Americas were introduced into Southeast Asia in the late 16th century through Spanish and Portuguese traders. The plant thrived in the tropical climate of Indonesia, and soon became a staple food plant in drier areas of central and southeastern Indonesia, since it requires much less water than wet rice. Coconut and palm oil have been essential elements of Indonesian cuisine for centuries. The deep fried technique using palm oil was probably borrowed from Portuguese colonists; and Indonesia and Myanmar (Burma) both have their own types of corn fritter, respectively called perkedel jagung or bakwan jagung and pyaungbu kyaw . [1]
Traditional corn fritters in the American South use corn kernels, egg, flour, milk, and melted butter. [4] They can be deep fried, [5] shallow fried, [5] baked, and may be served with jam, fruit, honey, or cream. They may also be made with creamed corn, baked, and served with maple syrup. Corn fritters can be made to have a similar appearance to, and thus be mistaken for, johnnycake.
They are sometimes called corn nuggets. [6]
Peruvian corn fritters, called torrejas de choclo, are made from choclo (Peruvian corn), an Andean variety of corn, pepper, onion and eggs. They can deep fry in vegetable oil and is usually served savory to accompany other local dishes as an appetizer. [7]
Corn is believed to have been introduced in Southeast Asia from Central America in 16th century by the Portuguese or the Spanish as part of the Columbian exchange and has become integrated into Southeast Asian cuisines. [8]
Cambodian corn fritters, called poat chien (Khmer : ពោតចៀន), are made from a mixture of thinly sliced corn kernels, grated coconut, coconut milk and glutinous rice flour fried in vegetable oil. They are eaten as a snack throughout the day. [9]
Indonesian corn fritters, a type of gorengan , are not sweet but savoury. They have a more granulated texture, as the corn kernels are not finely ground and blended into the dough, so they retain their kernel shapes. The fritter is made from fresh corn kernels, a mixture of flours including wheat flour, rice flour, corn starch, sago or tapioca, celery, scallion, eggs, shallots, garlic, salt and pepper, and deep fried in coconut oil. They are a popular snack and are often served as an appetizer. [10]
In Bojonegoro [11] and Tuban, [12] East Java, a corn fritter is called pelas. Unlike bakwan jagung, pelas uses corn which is ground with a stone mortar and pestle and mixed with spices.
Burmese corn fritters, called pyaungbu kyaw (ပြောင်းဖူးကြော်), are a type of Burmese fritter. Pyaungbu kyaw consists of corn kernels battered in flour and eggs and deep-fried as disk-like fritters. [13] [14] They are savory, and are similar to Indonesian bakwan jagung.
A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, or other ingredients which have been battered or breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-fried. Fritters are prepared in both sweet and savory varieties.
A hush puppy is a small, savory, deep-fried round ball made from cornmeal-based batter. Hushpuppies are frequently served as a side dish with seafood and other deep-fried foods.
Burmese cuisine encompasses the diverse regional culinary traditions of Myanmar, which have developed through longstanding agricultural practices, centuries of sociopolitical and economic change, and cross-cultural contact and trade with neighboring countries at the confluence of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, including the modern-day nations of India, China, and Thailand.
A rice cake may be any kind of food item made from rice that has been shaped, condensed, or otherwise combined into a single object. A wide variety of rice cakes exist in many different cultures in which rice is eaten and are particularly prevalent in Korea and Japan. Common variations include cakes made with rice flour, those made from ground rice, and those made from whole grains of rice compressed together or combined with some other binding substance.
Honduran cuisine is a fusion of Mesoamerican, Spanish, Caribbean and African cuisines. There are also dishes from the Garifuna people. Coconut and coconut milk are featured in both sweet and savory dishes. Regional specialties include sopa de caracol, fried fish, tamales, carne asada and baleadas. Other popular dishes include meat roasted with chismol and carne asada, chicken with rice and corn, and fried fish with pickled onions and jalapeños. In the coastal areas and the Bay Islands, seafood and some meats are prepared in many ways, including with coconut milk. Among the soups the Hondurans enjoy are bean soup, mondongo soup, seafood soups and beef soups. Generally all of these soups are mixed with plantains, yuca, and cabbage, and served with corn tortillas.
A banana fritter is a fritter made by deep frying battered banana or plantain in hot oil. It is a common dish across Southeast Asia and South India.
Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of Javanese people, a major ethnic group in Indonesia, more precisely the province of Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.
Belizean cuisine is an amalgamation of all ethnicities in the nation of Belize and their respectively wide variety of foods. Breakfast often consists of sides of bread, flour tortillas, or fry jacks that are often homemade and eaten with various cheeses. All are often accompanied with refried beans, cheeses, and various forms of eggs, etc. Inclusive is also cereal along with milk, coffee, or tea.
Sorullos are a fried cornmeal-based dish that is a staple of the Puerto Rican cuisine. Sorullos are served as a side dish or as appetizers, and are sometimes stuffed with cheese. They can be served with mayoketchup, coffee or dusted in confectioners' sugar.
Perkedel are vegetable fritters from Indonesian cuisine. Most common perkedel are made from mashed potatoes, yet there are other popular variants which includes perkedel jagung and perkedel tahu and perkedel ikan. Throughout most of Indonesia it is called perkedel; however, it is called begedil in Javanese, and also called that way in Malaysia and Singapore, which could suggest that this fried food was introduced by Javanese immigrants to Malaysia and Singapore.
Bakwan is a vegetable fritter or gorengan that are commonly found in Indonesia. Bakwan are usually sold by traveling street vendors. The ingredients are vegetables; usually beansprouts, shredded cabbages and carrots, battered and deep fried in cooking oil. To achieve crispy texture, the batter uses a mixture of flour, corn starch and sago or tapioca. In West Java bakwan is known as bala-bala and in Semarang is called badak. It is similar to Japanese yasai tenpura, Korean pajeon, Bruneian cucur, Burmese A-kyaw or Filipino ukoy.
Santomean cuisine comprises the cuisine, dishes and foods of São Tomé and Príncipe, a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. The country consists of two archipelagos around the two main islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about 140 kilometres (87 mi) apart and about 250 and 225 kilometres, respectively, off the northwestern coast of Gabon.
Burmese fritters are traditional fritters consisting of vegetables or seafood that have been battered and deep-fried. Assorted fritters are called a-kyaw-sone. Burmese fritters are generally savory, and often use beans and pulses, similar to South Asian vada.
In the Burmese language, the term mont translates to "snack", and refers to a wide variety of prepared foods, ranging from sweet desserts to savory food items that may be cooked by steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, or boiling. Foods made from wheat or rice flour are generally called mont, but the term may also refer to certain varieties of noodle dishes, such as mohinga. Burmese mont are typically eaten with tea during breakfast or afternoon tea time.
Indo cuisine is a fusion cooking and cuisine tradition, mainly existing in Indonesia and the Netherlands, as well as Belgium, South Africa and Suriname. This cuisine characterized of fusion cuisine that consists of original Indonesian cuisine with Eurasian-influences—mainly Dutch, also Portuguese, Spanish, French and British—and vice versa. Nowaday, not only Indo people consume Indo cuisine, but also Indonesians and Dutch people.
Corn fritters.