PORTO'S POTATO BALLS RECIPES

Steps:

• Boil potatoes in salted water until fork tender, Peel the skin and mash them well with a few tbsp of milk at a time until very smooth and fluffy (it shouldn't be too sticky so be careful with the milk). Be sure to add enough salt to the mashed potato.
• In a saucepan, sautee onion and peppers for a few minutes until soft.
• Add the ground beef and stir until beef has brown.
• Add in the spices and stir for a minute.
• Next, pour in the tomato sauce and let simmer for five minutes. The meat filling won't have too much sauce because the liquid will make it difficult to stuff the potato balls.
• To make the potato balls, take about two ounces of mashed potatoes and flatten it in the palm of your hand in a disk
• Now take about a teaspoon of meat filling and place in the center of the flattened potato disk. Make sure you don't add too much filling because we need to wrap the filling inside the potato,
• Slowly take the edges of the potato and pull them over the filling and smooth it into a ball. If your filling is not covered, just take a little bit of mashed potato and glue it onto the filling.
• Now take each ball, dredge it in flour, dip it in egg and finally coat it generously in bread crumbs.
• Once all the balls are coated, chill in the fridge for at least an hour to ensure they don't fall apart while frying. (You can also prep them a day in advance up to this point).
• Once ready, deep fry them until golden brown.
• Drain on paper towel and enjoy! This makes 20 medium-sized potato balls.

Steps:

• Mix together the hot mashed potatoes, eggs, butter and 2 teaspoons of cornstarch. Set aside and let cool.
• In a frying pan, heat the olive oil. Add the ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Stir to break up the meat.
• Add the sofrito, tomato sauce, oregano and salt to the cooked ground beef. Mix thoroughly. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
• Spread a spoonful of the potato dough mix in the palm of your hand. Make an indentation in the middle and stuff it with the meat mixture.
• Cover the filling with more potato dough. Shape into a ball. Dust the ball lightly with the remaining cornstarch.
• Repeat until mix is used up.
• Deep fry the stuffed potato balls until golden (about 2 minutes).
• Remove and drain on paper towels.
• Servings: Makes 12 to 16 potato balls.