This is a real Southern dish.

2 cups yellow, self-rising cornmeal
1 small firm tomato, finely diced
1 jalape? pepper, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 1/2 cups boiling water

Combine dry ingredients. Stir in vegetables. Add enough boiling water to make corn meal mixture the consistency of stiff batter. Roll small amounts of dough between palms to form 2-inch corn pones. Drop into deep fat fryer, or at least 1 inch of hot oil in a skillet. Fry until crisp and golden. Remove, drain and serve with molasses.

Makes 16 to 24 pones.