Stuck at home during the COVID19 crisis, I’ve been trying out a lot of my Mom’s recipes. This is the perfect situation in which to try the more time-consuming ones, as, on some mornings, the day just stretches out timelessly. With the whole family at home, enticing aromas emanating from the kitchen keep everyone’s spirits high!
These kachories make a delicious and flavourful Indian snack! These softballs of mashed potato stuffed with a combination of coconut, raisins, chilies, and fresh coriander are hard to resist. Perfect as a side, and even better for nibbling on with tea!
Ingredients:
- 4 medium-sized potatoes (about 300g)
- ½ cup fresh grated coconut
- 2 teaspoons lime juice – around juice of one lime
- 1 green chili, chopped
- ½ bunch green coriander- chopped fine (about 5-6 tablespoons)
- 10-12 raisins, chopped
- a pinch of sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cumin, ground
- 3 tablespoons rice flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt – divided
- 250ml of ghee or oil to fry
Instructions:
- Cover potatoes with water in a saucepan and bring to boil. Allow potatoes to boil uncovered for 20 minutes or until soft when poked with a knife. Allow to cool, peel, and roughly chop.
- In the meantime to freshly grated coconut, add 1 teaspoon lime, green chili, coriander, ¼ teaspoon salt, raisins, and sugar.
- Add remaining lime juice, ground cumin, rice flour, and ½ teaspoon salt to potatoes and mash until potatoes are smooth.
- Make a small ball of potatoes and put a little coconut mixture inside.
- Roll into a ball.
- Heat ghee/oil in a wok or frying pan on medium heat. Put in a few balls and lower heat. Allow to fry, gently rolling balls until done, about 4-5 minutes.
- Remove with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Serve warm with mint chutney or ketchup.
Critical Ingredients: Good quality, starchy potatoes are a definite critical ingredient. You can use cornstarch (and many people do) and still get good results, but I find cornstarch and arrowroot give a gluey taste. I prefer rice powder. If you allow the potatoes to boil for too long, and the peel cracks, the potatoes will absorb water and stay intact while frying. An alternative is to microwave potatoes so they don’t absorb water.
