Back in college, I went to the Bahamas with my girlfriends for spring break. Everywhere you go, they serve conch fritters. As much as I loved them in the beginning, I couldn’t look at another conch fritter by the 3rd day. You don’t see conch fritters much in NY (I probably never have), so I was ready for conch fritters again. I looked up several recipes but I didn’t have the standard ingredients so we improved a bit and ended up with non-traditional but very good conch fritters. How bad can any deep fried batter be, right?
Conch Fritters
- 5 ounces cleaned conch meat
- scant 2/3 cup chopped scallion
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup water
- oil for frying
Dipping Sauce
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/8 teaspoon allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon white sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Before we start, here’s what conch looks like before being cleaned (yup, they’re ugly suckers):
1. Make the dipping sauce first by mixing all the ingredients together. Set aside.
2. Cut the conch in half and place them on a cutting board. Place a piece of plastic wrap over them and pound them. Put them in a food processor and process for a few seconds, until it looks roughly chopped.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together conch, scallion, onion, pepper, and tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
4. Sprinkle the flour, cornmeal, and baking powder over it and mix well. Add water a little at a time while mixing, until all the water is used.
5. Heat oil to about 375 degrees F. Drop tablespoonfuls of batter into the oil. Fry until golden brown and floating on the top.
6. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.
The only time I have conch is when my mom makes soup with it and we just eat it dipped in soy sauce. My brother and I like the texture since it gets really tender from boiling in the soup for 5+ hours but still has a toothy bite! But after seeing your conch fritters, I want some of that~
Wonders, that sounds good. I also have conch at Chinese restaurants…it’s sliced and sauteed.
problem with conch fritters is that they’re taking a fundamentally mediocre ingredient and masking it with lots of other ingredients, frying and sauce. I’ve never enjoyed them. In my experience they basically come out like mildly fish flavored chewy fried bread.
Bill, while fritters do mask conch more than eating them unadulterated, I disagree that they are an inferior ingredient. Have you tasted them thinly sliced and sauteed at Chinese restaurants?
These look great. I was just looking for a fritter recipe. I unfortunately have never tried conch, but would love to.
Ooh, I’ve never had conch before and am definitely wanting to try this out. Thanks!
Manger la ville and JS, can’t wait to hear what your first experiences of conch are like.
I used to eat these as kid. I miss them. Thanks for reminding me about them. It’s time to make them.
Dawn, nostalgic foods are awesome!
Hard to get conch (no, make that impossible to get conch) in New England…have to wait fro the annual pilgrimage to St Croix to make a batch. I like the looks of the dipping sauce recipe
Anonymous, annual visit to St. Croix? Lucky You!
When I was a kid, we used to visit my aunt in Miami. We’d always go to the Coconut Grove farmer’s market on the weekend and get conch fritters. The woman who prepared them put jalepeno peppers in to add a kick. Yummy!
The shellfish in the picture are not conch, they are a type of whelk, notice the ridges on the foot, a conch has a claw and are a lot bigger.
Anyone interested in conch fritters that live in an area where conch is not ‘readily available’ can easily substitute scungilli or any form of whelk. Decent receipe thanks for posting it.
TJ is correct. The shellfish in the picture are definitely whelks and not conch. I just came back from St. Thomas VI and was able to bring back to the Miami both whelks and conch. Will be making many different dishes including this recipe.
TJ & CC – Thank you for letting us know! We are definitely not experts on these, but enjoyed them. I searched around online and apparently it can be quite hard to tell whelks and conch apart. The easiest way is when they’re in the shell, due to size and shape of specific parts. And apparently another, albeit less reliable way, is by color. Conch tend to be grey or green while whelks tend to be tan to white.