Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Black-Eyed Pea Fritters

Like every good southern girl, I cook and eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for luck, prosperity, etc.
Like my mother, I make too much food when I cook, and my poor yankee kids that were here aren't as crazy about black-eyed peas as I am. So I had an abundance of peas left over.
I remembered seeing Paula Deen make fritters out of leftover black-eyed peas one time and went to the foodnetwork website to search for a recipe. I found one, I made it last night as a side dish and I loved it.
They are very simple to make and so delicious.
First, I make my peas very soupy. I serve them as a soup with ham in them and cornbread on the side. So, when I was using the leftovers, I drained them a bit first so they weren't so wet. 
You take the peas, all mashed up, mix them with some chopped onion, salt, pepper, baking soda, baking powder and two eggs.
 Get your iron skillet (or any other kind if you don't have an iron skillet) and get about a half inch of oil hot.
My recipe says to shape the peas into fritters, but I just dropped them, carefully, by the spoonful into the oil



Brown them on one side and them flip.
When they're brown on both sides, remove them to a paper towel to drain.

Here is the recipe.

Black-eyed Pea Fritters
From the Food Network website.

Ingredients
Oil, for deep frying
1 1/2 pounds black eyed peas (I didn't use quite this much and adjusted the rest of the ingredients to match)
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 C all-purpose flour (I used more because my peas were still a little "wet")
1 small to medium onion, minced
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
Directions
In a large, deep frying pan, heat about 1/2 inch of oil to 350 degrees. Mash cooked peas in a large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Shape into fritters, whatever size you desire. Carefully add fritters to the hot oil and fry until golden on one side. Carefully turn fritters over and continue frying until golden on the second side and cooked through in the middle. Remove and let drain on paper towels. Serve.

I have to admit, I was skeptical of making a fritter with no corn meal. I have always used corn meal when making them in the past. Maybe that's a southern thing?  I think I could do half flour and half corn meal and they would be delish. I also added a squirt of plain old yellow mustard. I just have always done this when I'm frying any kind of patty and it just seemed right.
I will add that Alex did not like these. He's weird though.


4 comments:

gmontalvo13 said...

looks delish!

Jane said...

I have a little bit of southern girl in me as I lived in Georgia for a few years as a child. I love black eyed peas and the fritters look delicious! I wish I could reach through my monitor and grab one!

Anonymous said...

I look at more than one recipe for black eyed peas fritters and I like your's BEST! Half flour and half cornmeal sounds like an excellent idea. I will try these during the holidays! Thanks...yummm

Unknown said...

1 1/2 lbs? How many cups cooked and drained?

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