Name: Iraqi Stuffed Potato Balls
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Iraqi
Ingredients: 200 g (7 oz) feta cheese, crumbled; 2 large baking potatoes, peeled; ¼ teaspoon ground allspice; ½ teaspoon ground cumin; 1 tablespoon chopped chives; 2 tablespoons currants, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes and then drained; 300 g (11 oz) warm mashed potato (made without any butter, milk or cream); 1 tablespoon cornflour; 3 eggs; Vegetable oil, for deep-frying; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; ½ onion, finely chopped; ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika; 1 hard-boiled egg, diced; 25 g (1 oz) unsalted butter

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

A Passion for Potatoes

By Paul Gayler

Published 2010

About

Here simple mashed potato is enlivened with feta cheese, chopped hard-boiled egg, currants and spices, then rolled in shredded raw potato and fried until crisp. Serve with an Arabic-style salad of tomato, cucumber and red onion with a garlic, olive oil and lemon dressing.

Ingredients

25 g (1 oz) unsalted butter
½ onion, finely chopped

Method

Heat the butter in a small pan, add the onion and cook until soft and golden. Add the paprika, allspice and cumin and cook for 1 minute to infuse the onion with the spices. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the feta, hard-boiled egg, chives and currants.

In a separate bowl, mix together the warm mashed potato, cornflour and one of the eggs, then season to taste. Using wet hands, shape into