Bacalaitos

or salt cod fritters are a favorite snack in Puerto Rico.

They came from Spain and there are called bunuelos de bacalao and are round, looking more like donoughts ( codfish donoughts, anyone? :-)... sounds a little weird, doesn't it?), while the Puertorican ones (that I ingested!) are flatter, more like pancackes. Also, Spaniards add parsley to theirs, while Puertoricans don't.

Still, both varieties are great.

If you want to make them from scratch, here is a Spanish recipe:

500 g (or 1 lb 2 oz) of salt cod
1 large potato, unpeeled
2 tablespoons milk
oil (best to use: olive) for deep frying
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
30 g (1/4 cup) self raising flour
2 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

Soak the cod in water for 24 hours, changing water regularly: at least 4 times.

Cook potato for 20 minutes or until soft. Cool, peel and mash with milk and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Drain the cod, cut into large pieces, place in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes. Drain and cool. Remove skin and bones, then mash with fork until flaky.

Meanwhile heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan, add onion and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Remove from heat.

Combine the potato, cod, onion mixture, flour, egg yolk and parsley in a bowl and season.

Whisk egg whites until stiff then fold into the mixture.

Fill a large heavy-based one third full with oil and heat to 190 C (375 F).

Drop heaped tablespoons of the cod mixture into the oil and cook for 2 minutes or until puffed and golden. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

,in Puerto Rico you can make bacalaitos without going to all that trouble, since there are ready - or almost ready - mixes for them here and special frying pans for bacalaitos as well - see picture above.

They taste sooo good and apparently have less than 50 calories each, so you can indulge in two... or even three of them. :-)
Buen provecho!