Ecuadorian llapingachos
These Ecuadorian cheese stuffed potato patties are gluten free, vegetarian, egg free, and nut free.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
Potato dough
- 4 medium sized russet potatoes
- 1/2 onion
- 4 stalks green onion
- 2 tsp ground achiote or annatto (substitute 2 tsp paprika and 1/2 tsp oregano)
- 1/2 tsp cumin
Other ingredients
- 1 cup shredded quesillo cheese (substitute mozzarella or monterey jack)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp gluten free all purpose flour (optional)
Instructions
Potato dough
- Chop the onion and green onion into fine pieces
- Fill a large pot half way with water and heat it over medium high heat. Stab holes in the potatoes with a fork and add the potatoes to the water once it starts boiling. Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes or until you can stab the potatoes with a fork and they feel tender on the inside. You can move on to the next step and cook the onions while the potatoes boil
- Heat 1 tsp of vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and green onions. Cook for 10 minutes or until onions start to brown. Stir occasionally. When the onions are done cooking, ad in the ground achiote and cumin and mix well
- When the potatoes are done boiling, drain the water from the pot and run a fork over the potatoes to remove the skins
- Mash the potatoes and mix the onions into the potatoes. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature
Llapingachos
- Start to form the potato patties. Grab some of the potato dough and roll into a ball. Use your thumbs to create a hole in the center of the ball and slowly widen this hole until you have a little potato "cup". Fill this cup with shredded cheese then pinch the tops of the cup together to form a cheese filled ball. Slowly flatten this ball between the palms of your hands to form a thick potato pattie. Repeat until you are out of potato dough.
- Dust these patties with gluten free flour to help them maintain their shape (optional)
- Put the patties in the refrigerator to cool for 20-30 minutes
- Heat the remainder of the vegetable oil over medium heat in a large pan. Cook the patties for about 3-4 minutes on each side, or until they start to brown