Polenta is a dish made from corn meal, water, and spices, cooked into a porridge. Until recently, I thought the only way to eat polenta was in porridge form, but recently I’ve discovered that polenta is a very versatile food, able to be prepared in many different ways, and oh so very cheap.
I’d read about making polenta fries on various recipe sites, but the instructions there were so deficient that I was constantly messing it up until I figured out these precise instructions, but once you get the method down pat, oh boy are they delicious!!!
Polenta fries have a texture that is unlike most other foods. They’re crunchy on the outside, but have a silky smooth texture on the inside. Biting into one is such a terrific sensory experience.
I like to eat my polenta fries by dipping them into other foods, like salsa, curries, cheese sauce, etc. My kids just scarf them down plain.
My one biggest issue with making polenta fries is that I have to do it in batches, and by the time I finish making the last of the polenta fries, there’s nothing left for me to eat as my kids gobbled it all down already!!!
Ingredients:
1 batch of homemade polenta (or store bought… if you don’t mind spending more money)
Oil for frying. I use either coconut oil or sunflower oil.
Instructions:
1. In order to make your polenta fries, you first need to mix up a batch of homemade polenta and then let it cool down all the way. Before cooling down, ideally move it to another (ideally greased) container so you can remove it more easily. I find my silicon baking pans to be ideal for this.
2. Flip your polenta out onto a large flat surface, like a cutting board, trying not to break it.
8. Cook the polenta fries on their other side until both sides are completely cooked. If you decided to use less oil, continue flipping them until each of their 4 sides get cooked…
9. Once all cooked, remove the polenta fries from the pan, place on a plate, and let them cool down. Repeat steps 5-9 with the rest of the polenta fries until you’ve cooked them all.
10. Once the polenta fries cool enough that you can touch them comfortably, and eat them as you would any other types of fries.
Variation: If you don’t particularly need your food to be gluten free, or if you have a corn allergy, consider making your fries with semolina (cream of wheat) instead of corn meal. To do so, make my polenta recipe and just replace the corn meal with cream of wheat/semolina. Aside for that, you’d follow both that recipe and these instructions exactly.
Note: Once cooked, these make the perfect travel food. Aside from being somewhat greasy (which can be prevented by the use of by napkins, etc…), these are terrific for when you’re out and about because they stay crispy, are still yummy when cold, retain shape, and don’t require the use of a fork and a knife to eat it. Pair these with some lentil burgers or bean burgers and some veggie spears and you’ve got a nutritious, frugal, non messy meal perfect for those days when you’re traveling.
Bon Apetite!
Have you ever had polenta fries? How do you eat them? Plain or with a topping, and if so, which topping? Do you think this recipe is one you’d try out yourself?
