How to Make Potato and Cheese Croquettes

Crisp Potato Croquettes with Cheese

After gorging on Christmas sweets, let’s now learn how to make potato and cheese croquettes. These croquettes are appetizingly crisp and golden on the outside and filled with the creamy goodness of cheese inside. They would make the perfect party starters or appetizers or even a delicious side dish. Spinach adds to the flavour and also the appearance of these easy-to-make delicacies. These are tasty vegetarian appetizers, so anyone can sample and enjoy them. So make sure you check out this potato croquettes with cheese recipe.

These delectable potato and cheese croquettes would also be a hit with your family and friends at lunch and dinner parties during the Christmas-New Year holidays. After all, ’tis the season to be jolly, right? So make sure you give this recipe a shot. And then bask in the compliments that follow!

The potato and cheese croquettes can be enjoyed with hot and sweet tomato sauce, plain tomato ketchup or green coriander-coconut chutney. You could follow my chutney sandwich recipe for making the green chutney.

Ingredients

4 medium-size potatoes

3 tbsp breadcrumbs

2 tbsp cornflour

2 tbsp grated processed/cheddar cheese

3 green chillies finely chopped

10-12 spinach leaves

4 large garlic cloves, finely minced

2 tsp butter

½ tsp salt

1 tsp ground pepper

½ tsp grated nutmeg

½ tsp mixed herbs or oregano (optional)

Stuffing

Cubes of processed / cheddar /mozzarella cheese

Coating

2 tbsp cornflour,

1 tbsp maida (all-purpose flour)

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp chilli powder

Approx. ¼ cup water

Breadcrumbs / Panko bread crumbs / Rava (Semolina)

Procedure

1. Boil or steam the potatoes till they’re fork-tender. (Don’t pressure cook them because you could easily overcook them and that would make them retain extra water.) High starch potatoes are best. Peel and mash them. Let the mashed potatoes cool completely.
2. In the meanwhile, finely chop the spinach leaves.
3. Heat 2 tsp butter. Add the chopped green chilli and stir. Throw in the spinach. Saute for 2 -3 minutes or till it wilts. Add garlic. Saute for 1 more minute or till any liquid released evaporates. Let it cool.
4. Mix the cooked spinach with the mashed potatoes.
5. Mix in the bread crumbs, corn flour, grated cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and oregano. Taste the mix. Adjust it for taste. Divide it into 10 portions, shaping each portion into a ball, and making a tiny tester ball as well.
6. Flatten a ball, place 2-3 small ½” cubes of cheese in the centre of the mashed potato disc, close it up to cover the cheese completely. Give the croquette a cylindrical shape.
7. Make a slurry with the cornflour, maida, salt, chilli powder, and water. Dipping the croquettes in this would prevent them from falling apart while being fried.
8. Dip each croquette into this slurry, roll it in breadcrumbs/rava/panko bread crumbs. You could give the croquettes a thicker outer coating by dipping them in the flour slurry and rolling them in the breadcrumbs/rava all over again. Refrigerate them for around 20 minutes.
9. Deep fry / shallow fry first the tester ball and then the croquettes in hot oil (oil temperature: around 180 C / 360 F) till golden brown. Drain on a paper napkin. Fry all the croquettes without overcrowding the pan or kadai.

Enjoy!