Cheese and bacon hush puppies Recipe

Hush puppies are little balls of fried cornbread batter that can be served as a side alongside smokey barbecue food or as a starter or canapé with a tangy dipping sauce. 

This hush puppies recipe uses smoked pancetta and Cheddar to add a rich flavour to each bite - perfect when paired with a flavoursome Sriracha maple dip. 

Ingredients

• 140g smoked pancetta
• 150g coarse polenta 
• 80g self-raising flour
• 1tbsp caster sugar 
• 100g Greek yogurt 
• 2 eggs
• 100g mature Cheddar, grated 
• 40g jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
• 20g fresh coriander, finely chopped
• oil for frying (we used vegetable oil)

Serve with sriracha maple dip

• 6tbsp maple syrup
• 1½tbsp Sriracha (hot chilli sauce)
• ½tbsp soy sauce

Method

1. In a non-stick frying pan, cook the pancetta for 5 mins, until crispy. Remove from the heat and set aside. 
In a large bowl, mix the polenta, flour and sugar. In another bowl, whisk the yogurt and eggs until combined. 
2. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the flour mixture and fold in the cheese, jalapenos, coriander and crispy pancetta until combined. Divide the batter into small balls using 1tbsp mixture for each ball – wetting your hands with water will help prevent the mixture from sticking. Transfer to the fridge and chill for 
20 mins or overnight. 
3. For the dipping sauce, put all the ingredients in a saucepan over a medium heat. Whisk to combine 
and leave to simmer for 2 mins. Then transfer to a small bowl for serving. This can be made ahead too – simply reheat just before serving.
4. To cook the hush puppies, heat the oil in a saucepan. Fry the balls of batter for 2 mins until crunchy. Keep warm in a low oven until all the balls have been fried. 
5. Transfer to a serving platter and eat warm.