Rellenos de Papa (Stuffed Potato Balls)

These Rellenos de Papa (Stuffed Potato Balls) are absolutely delicious.  I grew up eating Alcapurrias and Rellenos de Papa and they are one of  my favorite things to eat when I visit my island of Puerto Rico, besides every pastry, fresh bread and cheese, but I'll leave that for another day.

I remember the last time I visited my family in the town of Utuado, my aunt made me Pasteles and Rellenos de Papa with some black eye peas rice.  My husband and I still talk about that meal.  I come from a big family of excellent cooks.  I often think of my mom and everything she cooked for us.  Going to Puerto Rico to visit my family brought back so many great memories.

This is such a treat for dinner, I'm happy I made them. 

The outside of the Relleno de Papa (stuffed potato ball) is super crunchy and the inside really soft.  The meat is cooked and seasoned perfectly and that's really important.  If you are having people over and need to make some appetizers, these are perfect for that, just make then into bite size.

Ingredients

3 pounds of potatoes peeled, cut into small pieces
1/2 packet of sazon with culantro and achiote (coriander and annato)

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs beaten

Meat Stuffing (Picadillo)

1 pound of ground beef

1 cup of water

2 tbsp of sofrito

4 oz of tomato sauce

1 packet of cubito (chicken bouillon)

1 packet of sazon with culantro and achiote (coriander and annato)

salt to taste

oil for frying

Peel the potatoes and cook in salted water until tender.  Then mash with a potato masher and add the sazon. Mix well, then refrigerate for about 15-20 minutes.

In a sauce pan start cooking the ground beef with a cup of water...once it starts boiling take all that grease sitting on top and get rid of it. Then add the sofrito, tomato sauce, cubito, sazon and salt.  Let this cook for at least 15 minutes on medium heat.

Heat a deep frying pan on medium heat with enough oil to cover the potatoes halfway up.  To assemble the Relleno de Papas (stuffed potato balls) I use a big cookie dough scooper.  Scoop the potatoes and drop on your hands.  With a small spoon make an indentation into the potatoes.  Add a spoonful of meat, close up the indentation and form a  round ball.  You can add more potato if needed to close the indentation.  Dip into the eggs, then roll in the cornstarch, back in the eggs then roll in the breadcrumbs.  Start frying, make sure to flip the potato to fry both sides.

The potatoes will fry really quick.  Everything is already cooked, you are just crusting the outside of the stuffed potatoes.  Fry until golden brown. Enjoy!!