Jalapeno cheese balls
A conversation that happened 2 nights back in our house which I definitely definitely want on record and what better place than my own blog :D. Setting a little context here :). Adyant loves some transport/ construction vehicles. Mixer truck love still tops the list. He also likes buses, airplanes, road rollers, garbage trucks and diggers. There will always be mixer trucks in random parts of our house and we are not allowed to move those because apparently the mixer trucks are working and they are “making cement” :). He would randomly be running around with toy screw drivers, screws, spanners (he will also try and get the actual ones if we are not careful :)) and he will be fixing his vehicles.. will also make us mechanic/ carpenter & gets us to fix as well at times. So I think you have the gist now – transport/ construction vehicles, cement, spanners, screw drivers, nails are his life right now :).
So two nights ago, Adyant & I were reading a book on transport vehicles and we came across trains and below is how the conversation went.
Me : Hey Ads, did you know? Paati used to work for a train company (My mother in law used to work for Southern Railways in India).
Adya : Really? Paati did you fix trains there?
Mil : Haha, no Adya. I fixed people who fixed trains (Duly note – She used to work for the HR dept in the railways & she is eloquent in english and hence the play of words. We both were already giggling at this point).
Adya : How? with screw drivers?
and that’s it, we both lost it and burst out laughing :). Truly wish we could fix us with screw drivers and spanners :D. He of course did not get the joke but found it funny that we were laughing and happily joined us :). and aaah, can I freeze time? I love this innocence!
Now jumping on to the recipe bit. D loves spicy food and I am sure I have mentioned this multiple times. So no surprise there that he likes jalapenos. We both always enjoyed the jalapeno poppers that we eat out at restaurants and he saw a frozen batch of those in a supermarket recently and wanted to pick it up. I promised him I will give it a go and started with a simple version I had in my mind which was these cheese balls. The result was really good & so I knew I had to blog it :). Of course, D gave feedback on the first batch which I incorporated quite well (main feedback was more cheese :D). These cheese balls literally melt in your mouth. A perfect evening snack and is something that is equally loved by kids (of course lessen/ increase spice levels based on the serving audience).
Note – I also gave the actual poppers a go the following week which turned out superb as well and will work on the process to blog it soon.
- 1 regular boiled potato skin removed
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp red chilli flakes
- 1.5 tbsp bread crumbs
- 1.5 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 8-10 pickled jalapenos
- 2 cheese cubes
- 100 ml vegetable oil for frying
- jalapenos (finely chopped)
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Finely chop 3 jalapenos (the rest will be used for stuffing). Chop the cubes into 10-12 pieces. Keep it aside.
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Take a wide bowl & mash the boiled potato.
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To this, add garlic powder, red chilli flakes, bread crumbs, all purpose flour, salt, finely chopped jalapenos.
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Mix everything together to form a smooth dough. The dough should be smooth & pliable (not too wet & neither too dry).
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Roll the dough into equal gooseberry size balls.
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Now take each ball in one of your hand & flatten it out.
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Place a cheese piece & half a jalapeno in it and cover the stuffing with the dough rolling it back into a ball. Set it aside.
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Meanwhile, heat oil in a kadai/ pan for frying on medium flame.
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Drop the cheese balls a few at a time & fry till the balls turn golden brown.
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Take the balls out & place it on a kitchen towel to remove excess oil.
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Serve hot alongside some ketchup/ mayo. As always, I prefer to have these without any accompaniments (just a cuppa chai).
Stepwise pictures
Finely chop 3 jalapenos & set it aside. Also chop the 2 cheese cubes into 10-12 pieces. Set it aside. In a wide bowl, mash the potato.
To this add, garlic powder, red chilli flakes, bread crumbs, all purpose flour, salt & finely chopped jalapenos.
Mix everything together to form a smooth & pliable dough. The dough shouldn’t be too wet nor too dry.
Roll out the dough into equal gooseberry sized balls.
Have the cheese pieces & jalapenos ready for stuffing (halve the jalapenos)
Take each of the ball into one of your hands & flatten it out with the other. Now place the cheese piece & jalapeno and cover with the dough rolling it back into a ball.
While stuffing each of the ball, get your oil heated in a kadai/ pan on medium flame.
Once the stuffed balls are ready & the oil hot, fry the cheese balls in batches till each of them turn golden brown. Remove them from the oil & drain excess oil on a kitchen towel.
Serve hot alongside some ketchup/ mayo or if you are like me without those but with some chai/ coffee!
