When I was much younger I used to work at this great family owned restaurant where I learned how to make these papas rellenas, or stuffed potato balls. This was in my pre-vegan days and I used to love to eat the ground-beef stuffed balls during my shift. I had forgotten all about them until recently, when I was looking at my huge bag of potatoes and wondering what to do with all of them. It dawned on me that I could very easily veganize these scrumptious, crispy fried balls of potato and meat and make them healthy and cruelty-free. I opted for using lentils in this recipe as a replacement for the beef, but you could easily use any vegan ground beef option. I’m happy to say that they turned out very well and I look forward to making them again in the future. They are a little tricky to master, so be patient with yourself and don’t give up because they are definitely worth the effort.
Ingredients
- 4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 1/2 tbsp oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups lentils
- 2 tbsp tomato sauce
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1 tbsp ground flax
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 cup flour
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cook lentils according to package directions.
- Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onions, bell peppers and saute.
- While onions are cooking, boil potatoes in a pot until tender.
- Add lentils to the pan with the onions and peppers and saute for about 10 minutes.
- Add garlic and half of spices to the pan and stir, sauteing for another 5 minutes.
- Stir in tomato sauce and cook another 5 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, partially mash cooked, drained potatoes. Mash in cornstarch and other half of spices to form a potato dough.
- Form the stuffed potatoes by flattening a ball of potato dough in the palm of your hand and filling with about 1/2 tbsp of filling, making sure to enclose the lentils entirely.
- If you have time, you can chill the stuffed potato balls in the fridge for 3 or more hours, but when I made this recipe, I didn't have time to chill them and they turned out fine.
- Prepare the flax egg by mixing ground flax and water together. You can add more water if it's too thick.
- Roll the balls in flour, flax egg and then breadcrumbs and place in a single layer in a baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Alternatively, you can fry them in oil on medium-high heat (I would definitely chill them if you plan on frying them).
We hope you enjoyed this vegan papas rellenas recipe. If you’d like to find more recipes like this one, check out more of VeganFoodLover.com.