Necessity IS the mother of invention.
Here I was trying to come up with a vegetarian appetizer that would be easy and quick, and that would obviously taste fantastic. I didn't have time to go to the store, so I had just a couple things on hand, and out of that desperate scenario, I came up with putting together potatoes and frozen corn into little popper bites that were delicious!
What you need:
8-10 potatoes (fresh or canned - believe it or not, canned potatoes work well, and you really cannot tell the difference, and they make the process even easier. I normally detest canned vegetables, but this works out fantastic)
1/2 bag of frozen corn
1 onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 cup regular/herb breadcrumbs
1 cup panko breadcrumbs (Japanese bread crumbs, for extra crunch!)
2 teaspoons Tomato Ketchup
Salt to taste
Vegetable/Canola Oil (enough to deep fry)
Spices
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
What to do:
First, prepare the base of the croquettes/fritters. You'll need to basically make mashed potatoes (but without any additional water/cream added to the potato paste). Boil potatoes until really soft and tender. You can peel and boil or boil and then peel (the peels comes right off). If you are using canned potatoes, this process will be much shorter, because the canning process means that the potatoes are already cooked most of the way, and just need to be softened up. Mash up the soft, peeled potatoes after draining out all the extra water. Add salt and pepper to flavor the potato paste.
In a pan with hot oil, saute finely chopped onion. When golden brown, throw in the garlic, ketchup and the spice powders. Saute for a minute. Add the corn and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the potato paste, and let any remaining water evaporate from the mixture. Basically, when you form little balls with the mixture, and fry them, you don't want them to fall apart, and the moisture will do that!
Let the mixture cool, then mix it with 1/2 cup of the regular/herb breadcrumbs - again, this sucks up the remaining water content, and makes the mixture tighter.
Mix the remaining breadcrumbs (panko and regular) together, with a little additional salt. Make little truffle sized balls with the potato/corn mixture, and roll them around in the breadcrumbs.
Deep fry the little croquettes in hot oil (around 375 degrees) for a couple minutes until golden brown, then serve hot with any dip of your choice.
If you like super spicy food, feel free to add chopped green chillies to the potato/corn mixture - these can be a different version of jalapeno poppers.
Go ahead, I dare you to make these. You cannot stop eating them!
Here I was trying to come up with a vegetarian appetizer that would be easy and quick, and that would obviously taste fantastic. I didn't have time to go to the store, so I had just a couple things on hand, and out of that desperate scenario, I came up with putting together potatoes and frozen corn into little popper bites that were delicious!
What you need:
8-10 potatoes (fresh or canned - believe it or not, canned potatoes work well, and you really cannot tell the difference, and they make the process even easier. I normally detest canned vegetables, but this works out fantastic)
1/2 bag of frozen corn
1 onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 cup regular/herb breadcrumbs
1 cup panko breadcrumbs (Japanese bread crumbs, for extra crunch!)
2 teaspoons Tomato Ketchup
Salt to taste
Vegetable/Canola Oil (enough to deep fry)
Spices
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
What to do:
First, prepare the base of the croquettes/fritters. You'll need to basically make mashed potatoes (but without any additional water/cream added to the potato paste). Boil potatoes until really soft and tender. You can peel and boil or boil and then peel (the peels comes right off). If you are using canned potatoes, this process will be much shorter, because the canning process means that the potatoes are already cooked most of the way, and just need to be softened up. Mash up the soft, peeled potatoes after draining out all the extra water. Add salt and pepper to flavor the potato paste.
In a pan with hot oil, saute finely chopped onion. When golden brown, throw in the garlic, ketchup and the spice powders. Saute for a minute. Add the corn and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the potato paste, and let any remaining water evaporate from the mixture. Basically, when you form little balls with the mixture, and fry them, you don't want them to fall apart, and the moisture will do that!
Let the mixture cool, then mix it with 1/2 cup of the regular/herb breadcrumbs - again, this sucks up the remaining water content, and makes the mixture tighter.
Mix the remaining breadcrumbs (panko and regular) together, with a little additional salt. Make little truffle sized balls with the potato/corn mixture, and roll them around in the breadcrumbs.
Deep fry the little croquettes in hot oil (around 375 degrees) for a couple minutes until golden brown, then serve hot with any dip of your choice.
If you like super spicy food, feel free to add chopped green chillies to the potato/corn mixture - these can be a different version of jalapeno poppers.
Go ahead, I dare you to make these. You cannot stop eating them!
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