• 1 Cup white corn meal (yellow corn meal will do)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (comes in a can, don’t substitute baking soda, which comes in a box)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 Cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil for deep frying

Pour 1-1/2 cups to 2 cups of water into a small sauce pot and place on stove top burner.  Turn heat to high and bring water to a boil.  While water is heating, sift the corn meal, salt and baking powder together in a small bowl.  Place a glass measuring cup in the sink and when the water boils, measure out 1 cup.  Add the 1 cup of boiled water immediately to the cornmeal mixture.  With a spatula, quickly mix the hot water and cornmeal into a soft ball of dough.  This next step is very hard because the dough is so hot.  Quickly  pull out a small bit and shape the dough into a small ball* about 1 inch in diameter or as long as the tip of your thumb to the first joint. Repeat until all the dough is shaped into small balls.

Allow the balls to rest while you heat the oil in a small skillet over high heat.  A small, deep amount of oil is much better for frying these crispy dough balls than a thin, wide layer of oil.  When the oil is very hot (about 1-1/2 minutes of heating), you can use a slotted spoon to transfer 1 of the hush puppies into the oil.  The dough should start sizzling and popping immediately as it fries.  If it makes no sound, your grease is not yet hot enough.

Fry the balls of dough for about 5 minutes, stirring gently to turn the balls around and over in the hot grease so they cook on all sides.

Drain on paper towels.

Eat hot with fried fish or other Soul Food.  Our family likes to dip them in ketchup before eating, and some people like to dip them in honey.

*My husband’s grandmother did not like having to shape the hot dough with her bare hands, so instead of hush puppy balls she had hush puppy scoops.  She would scoop up a small spoonful of the hot dough and slide the spoonful of dough off into the hot grease with her finger or another spoon.