Notes: choice of potato, as ever for Peruvian food, is
essential. You must use a floury potato for this and you
must mash it well but do not use a food
processor as we once did: it turns the mash into unmanageable
goo. Also note that chopping things finely is pretty
essential for this recipe.
Makes ~10 large-potato-sized things.
Ingredients
6 floury potatoes, preferably Maris Piper, peeled and
chopped into nice even sizes
one carrot (~ 30 gm), sliced into quarters length ways and
then finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
half a red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp paprika
half an aubergine, peeled and chopped into cubes about 1 cm
on a side
3 artichoke hearts, either boiled or purchased ready to eat
from a deli counter, finely chopped
100 gm mushrooms, finely chopped
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
40 gm raisins
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
flour for dusting
milk for "dusting" (can be vegetable-based for a vegan
version)
oil for deep frying, salt and pepper
Method
Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the potatoes, bring
back to the boil and cook for 25 minutes.
Mash the boiled potatoes, season with 0.25 tsp salt and
some pepper, and put to one side.
In a large pan fry the chopped carrot until the carrot
begins to brown.
Add the garlic, onion and paprika and fry for a few more
minutes.
Add the chopped aubergine, artichoke, mushrooms, sesame oil
and soy sauce and fry for three to five minutes.
Add the raisins and chopped parsley and season well
(e.g. 1 tsp salt): you don't want this stuff to be lost in
amongst the potato.
Put the mixture into a bowl and line up the following:
The mashed potato.
The mixture.
A shallow container of milk.
An area in front of these dusted with flour.
A wok filled with oil to about 2 cm deep.
A plate covered with two sheets of kitchen towel
To make each stuffed potato, do as follows:
Flour your hands and place into one palm about 5 tbsp of
the mashed potato, forming it into a bowl shape with
thinnish walls.
Add about 2 tbsp of the mixture into this bowl and then
bring together your finger tips and use your other hand to
close the bowl off into a potato shape, adding a little more
mashed potato to plug any holes if required.
Dust with more flour.
Having made your stuffed potatoes, roll each one in the
shallow container of milk just before frying; we found this
milking bit to be vital, as they just didn't hold together in
the hot oil otherwise.
Deep fry them in the wok, two at a time, until golden
brown: this needs no more than a minute to a minute and a
half, just to brown them as they are already cooked; place
them on the kitchen towel to drain when done.
