Potato Cakes (Llapingachos)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- salt
- 2 cups Munster cheese, shredded
- 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) butter
- lard, butter, or oil, or annatto lard or oil
Preparation
Boil the potatoes in salted water until soft. Drain
and mash. Heat the butter in a skillet and saute the onions until they
are very soft. Add the onions to the mashed potatoes, mixing well.
Shape the potatoes into 12 balls. Divide the cheese into 12 parts and
stuff each of the potato balls with the cheese, flattening them as you
do so into cakes or patties about 1 inch thick. Chill in the
refrigerator for about 15 minutes. In enough lard, butter, or oil
(with or without annatto as you please) to cover the bottom of a
skillet, saute the potato cakes until they are golden brown on both
sides. The onions may be omitted, or the potato may be mixed with the
cheese instead of the cheese being used as a stuffing.
Steamed Puddings (Quimbolitos)
Ingredients
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) butter
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons cognac or light rum
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup seedless raisins
Preparation
-
Soften the butter at room temperature. In a bowl
cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and
fluffy. Add the eggs mixed with the milk. Sift together the flour,
cornstarch, and baking powder, and stir into the batter mixture. Stir
in the cheese, raisins, and cognac or rum.
-
Cut either kitchen parchment or aluminum foil into six 8x12-inch
rectangles. Drop a scant 3 tablespoons of the mixture into the center
of each, and fold up into an envelope. Arrange in a steamer and cook
over boiling water for 45 minutes. Serve hot, with or without cream.
-
In Ecuador the Quimbolitos are cooked in achira leaves, the leaf of
the taro plant, prehaps better know as dasheen or yautia. Nothing
seems to be lost by cooking them in parchment or foil, however.
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