Gluten Free: Corn Dogs

While Guy Fawkes made several tactical errors when he tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament, he did do one thing remarkably well. The timing, seasonally, was perfect for bonfires and fireworks displays in his honour. It’s dark by about 4.30pm so it’s family friendly, and crisply cold enough that some form of warm sustenance is required to make the occasion really go with a bang.

Sausages are always a great idea on a cold night spent outside looking at the sky. And corn dogs are a portable hot sausage snack that's perfect for a bonfire party. Corn dogs are an American invention - hot dogs, dipped in corn bread batter and fried. My version still uses maize meal, but the batter is more like a thick Yorkshire pudding batter than corn bread. Actually what we have here is more like toad in the hole on a stick than proper corn dogs, but they're flippin' brilliant, whatever you call them! 

If you can’t find maize meal (it's sold in some health food stops and online) you can use fine polenta, but let the mixture stand for about 15 minutes to let the grains soak up the moisture or your corn dogs will be a bit gritty. I have to insist on wooden skewers here, metal ones get too hot. I know you’ll all have gloves on because you know how to safely use a sparkler, but I’d rather not take any chances with your fingertips.

Mini Corn Dogs (makes 24 mini dogs, serves 4-6 people)
You’ll need:

• 24 gluten free cocktail sausages, or 12 chipolatas, halved (see below)
• 25g maize meal (or fine polenta, the quick-cook kind)
• 80g rice flour (I use Dove’s Farm Rice Flour)
• ½tsp baking powder
• big pinch salt
• a pinch ground white pepper
• 175g natural yoghurt
• 2 eggs
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Make it!

1. Pour about 4cm oil into a saucepan and heat slowly on the hob (if you have a deep fat fryer, heat it to 180°C/350°F). If you have a sugar thermometer, put that in the oil and watch for it to come to 180°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, you want the oil to be hot enough that a drop of batter will start sizzling as soon as you drop it in, but not so hot that it browns immediately.
2. Gently mix the maize meal, rice flour, baking powder, salt and pepper together in a bowl.
3. Beat the yoghurt and eggs together and add to the flour mixture. Beat to form a thick batter.
4. Place each sausage on a wooden skewer and dip into the batter, coating well. Tap gently to remove any excess and place into the hot oil.
5. Fry for about 4 minutes, until golden brown. 
6. Drain on kitchen paper.
7. You can make these in advance and reheat them in the oven when you want to eat them. Place them on a baking tray and cook at 180°C/350°F.gas mark 4 for 15 minutes.

The Good Little Sausage Company make gluten free cocktail sausages that are delicious and perfect for this recipe. If you can’t find them, Use GF chipolatas (The Black Farmer and The Good Little Sausage Co. make those) and squeeze each in the middle, then twist to turn each into two cocktail sausages. If you really can’t find little gluten free sausages, most butchers and supermarkets have their own GF sausage. Cook them and slice each one into thirds, then follow the recipe as normal. You’ll have to cook the thicker sausages first, because the time in the oil won’t be enough to do it.