Jamaican style Polenta fries

original post: http://greedygirlcooks.blogspot.com/2015/04/one-meal-two-ways.html

Ingredients

3 tablespoon butter or coconut oil

1 large onion chopped

1 large tomato chopped

½ cup chopped Scallion

1 tablespoon Thyme

1 teaspoon minced Scotch bonnet pepper

3 ½ cups coconut milk

1 tablespoon ground allspice

2 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon salt

2 cloves garlic grated

2 ½ cups cornmeal

Instructions

• In a large pot on high heat melt the butter or oil
• Sauté the onion, tomato, scallion, thyme and scotch bonnet pepper until they are fragrant and softened
• Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil
• Add allspice, sugar, salt and grated garlic to the milk mixture and stir until dissolved
• Add the cornmeal and immediately begin stirring so that it does not clump up, it will thicken considerably
• Stir until all the cornmeal has absorbed the coconut milk mixture smooth out the top reduce the heat to med/low place a very damp paper towel on the surface of the cornmeal cover and allow it to cook for 10 minutes
• After the 10 minutes stir and check to make sure the cornmeal is not burning. Replace the damp paper towel and continue to cook for another 10 minutes
• After the 20 minutes of total cooking has elapsed give it a final stir, it should be thick but still slightly creamy, serve.
• After the ‘turn cornmeal’ has cooked immediately transfer it to a glass baking dish spreading and smoothing it out neatly and allow it to completely cool
• Preheat oil to 375 degrees
• Once it has cooled turn it out onto a surface and slice into your desired shapes
• Once the oil is hot place the polenta into the oil and fry until they are golden brown and crispy.
• Serve

Greedy tips:

• You don’t have to fry them all at once, after the cornmeal has cooled and you slice them place them in a zip lock bag and freeze until you are ready to use.
• To fry just heat the oil and place the defrosted or frozen cornmeal sticks in the oil (I have done both, just beware of popping) remove from the oil when golden brown and crispy.
• Cut them in any shape you want, I prefer thicker cut fries
• A good idea is to cool the turn cornmeal overnight and fry them the next day.