Potato "kefte"

Here is an original recipe allowing to use cleverly some leftover potatoes, chickpeas or even lentils. The exact proportions will depend on the amount of potatoes or legumes available in your kitchen. In the following recipe, the principle is to use freshly mashed potatoes and from this point, to let go your imagination :)

4 big boiled potatoes, skinned and mashed
1 onion medium; finely grated
250g of grated cheese, ideally goat of sheep
1 or 2 eggs stirred up in "omelette"
2 table spoons of dehydrated mint
3 table spoons of minced fresh parsley
1/4 of a table spoon of ground nutmeg
olive oil for the deep frying
salt and pepper

Put the potatoes in a deep bowl. Add all the ingredients and mix them well. Season to your taste adding some salt, pepper and aromatics if necessary.

Heat the olive oil in a deep-frying pan. When the oil is burning hot, take small quantities of the mixture (each of a size of an egg) and put them down cautiously in the pan. Fry one side until golden brown and turn them around with the same procedure. As soon as they are ready, lay them down on a kitchen towel paper.

Very simple isn't it? Well, you can make it a bit more challenging and diverse, like we did, opting for some alternatives :)

You can replace the main ingredient that is potato by boiling instead the following ones:

Courgettes, just take off the spices and keep mint and salt/pepper
Butternut squash, replacing the nutmeg by cinnamon
lentils or chickpeas, that must be blended rather than mashed then (if too liquid add one or two spoonful of flour) and replace the nutmeg by some ground cumin instead.

They loved it! We enjoyed the alternative this kefte offer to the traditionnal french fries or any other western deep fried potatoes.

We've enjoyed the twist brought by the mint and spices. The other versions we've tried based on lentils and chickpeas did seduce us as well. We've assorted our dish of a light tsatsiki bowl (a minced garlic clove in some fresh yogurt with some grated cucumber and a drizzle of olive oil).

A meal that we happily imagine for the mid-seasons : comforting enough for the still cold days after some good efforts and refreshing enough for the mild days, before the heat of the summer.