Sweet Potato Croquettes With Cheese and Jalapeno

Sweet Potato Croquettes With Cheese and Jalapeno

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You must be wondering why the obsession with sweet potato. The last recipe was a sweet potato tart, now sweet potato croquettes. Did she buy the damn vegetable in bulk? Yup. she did.

The first time I made the sweet potato tart, I messed up the proportions leaving too little filling in the case. The second time on, I decided to err on the side of abundance, so went and bought more than a kilo and a half of sweet potato. Ended up using just 600 grams on the tart, so now what to do with the rest? Thought I’d try something interesting and stuff it with all the things I like.

I used pickled jalapeno because I don’t particularly fancy the taste of the raw one. This gave a nice tang to the saltiness of the cheese and the sweetness of the potato. You can even increase the quantity of the cheese and jalapeño by another 50 grams each to give a bigger punch but be careful while rolling the potato around it. The potato mash should cover the cheese and jalapeño ball fully before rolling, otherwise the cheese will disintegrate.

 

 

I used our humble processed Britannia cheese but if you use mozzarella cheese, add a pinch of salt to it as it is very bland on its own. Mozzarella will give it a nice gooey filling once fried, while the cheese I used will not melt as much but is just as delicious.

This makes a lovely appetiser for a party and the good part is that it can be made a day in advance, placed in the fridge and fried at the time of serving. Keep the croquettes out of the fridge for at least an hour before frying so that they come to room temperature. If you fry it straight out of the fridge, the core will remain cold.

 

 

You can serve these with a coriander and mint chutney, or my very mild piri piri sauce, ketchup or chilli garlic sauce or anything you fancy really, OR, you could just eat them without any sauce because they really don’t need them.

* I’ve been serving these at dinner parties with my piri piri sauce mentioned above and have got rave reviews.

Ingredients (makes 20)

500 gms sweet potato boiled and mashed
1 tsp salt
150 gms grated (processed or mozzarella) cheese
75 gms pickled jalapeno finely chopped
1 cup breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Get Started (pictorial steps at the end of the post)

  • Mix the jalapeño with the cheese then press and roll into 20 balls.
  • Add the salt to the mashed potato and mix well till fully incorporated. Then, evenly divide the mashed potato into 20 portions and roll them into balls with your hands. It may be a bit mushy. Refrigerate for at least half an hour to an hour and it will firm up.
  • Press the mashed potato ball till it forms a disc in your palm.
  • Place the cheese jalapeño ball in the middle and wrap the potato disc fully around it then roll into a ball with your palms.
  • Put the breadcrumbs on a plate and roll the potato cheese balls on it one by one till they are evenly coated.
  • Pour two inches of oil in a wok or saucepan and heat till a sprig of coriander dipped in the oil sizzles. Fry the potato balls in the oil in batches of four, rolling them over till the entire surface is a lovely deep shade of brown and nicely crisp. Should take around two minutes per round.  Make sure you don’t burn it.
  • Remove from the pan onto a plate covered with an absorbent napkin.

Then – attack!

Pictorial Steps (Double click the pictures to enlarge)

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