At The House Of Celeste, my restaurant in Gurugram, Haryana, we cannot make enough of these crispy, smooth, oozing with cheese beet balls. We serve them tossed in Tamarind chutney. At home you can serve them that way, or with the chutney at the side. I know friends who would devour them as is, and others who would dunk them in ketchup and be in comforting heaven.
This is a recipe that is wonderful for those festivals/fasts when meat is forbidden, and onion and garlic are also restricted.
While the recipe is vegetarian, it is far from shy in depth of flavor and comforting satiety. It is the kind of dish that makes vegetarianism seem both sexy and fun. Chef Vardaan Marwah was gung-ho about having it on the menu. At our first tasting of it, I was convinced it belonged on the menu. A few tweaks and we were all licking our chops.
Make these and you will be the "Hot cook" in your friend circles and the one everyone will be gravitating towards for delicious food and recipes.
Trying times call for deeply delicious foods. We take our food seriously and know that this recipe will make you proud of your efforts and make you feel like a star in the kitchen and at your table.
Beet Balls with Cheese Filling - Makes 48 beet balls
For the Beet Balls:
2 kgs. beetroot
300 grams potatoes, boiled and cooled
100 grams roasted salted peanuts, ground coarsely
10 grams cumin powder
9 grams garam masala
10 grams, salt, or to taste
5 grams fennel seeds
8 grams fennel powder
10 grams red chilli powder
10 grams chaat masala
100 grams Panko bread crumbs
Freshly ground black peppercorn to taste
For the stuffing:
50 grams hung curd
50 grams mozzarella
50 grams soft goat cheese
Preheat oven to 180˚C if using oven to cook the beet.
Make the stuffing by mixing hung curd, mozzarella and goat cheese together. Mix until smooth. Use a pastry bag and use it to create 48 small 1/4-1/2 inch balls. Place these in the freezer on a tray and let them get firm.
In the meantime, cook the beetroot in a grill or tandoor or covered all around in foil individually and then placed in a tray in the oven at 180˚C for 40-60 minutes. Cool completely. Then remove foil, peel, and mash the pulp, or grate it if you prefer more of a chunky texture as we do in our kitchen.
While the beets are cooking, mash the potatoes in a medium-large bowl.
In a frying pan, take a couple of tablespoons of neutral oil and cook your dry spices for a minute or two until fragrant, over low-medium heat. Add the peanuts and cook for a minute till the nutty flavor of the nuts permeates the kitchen. Take off the heat and pour the contents of the frying pan over the potatoes. Mix well.
When beet are cooked, and cool enough to handle, add these into the potato-spice-peanut mix.
Make a slurry using cornstarch and flour and water. Just thick enough to stick to the beet balls.
In another bowl mix the Panko breadcrumbs and freshly ground pepper.
Bring out the frozen stuffing. Take the beet-potato mix and stuff it with one of the frozen cheese balls. Create a golf sized smooth beet ball. You should have around 48 by the end.
Next take these balls, drag them into the slurry, and then toss them into the Panko, and lay onto another clean sheet tray.
Fry the balls in hot neutral oil. Serve hot with tamarin chutney or your favorite dipping sauce.
Variation: You can make the stuffing using simply with a mix of mozzarella and hung yogurt or just hung yogurt. If using just hung yogurt, season with some salt. You can also mince fresh mixed herbs into the cheese stuffing if you want a more robust and herbaceous taste to the filling.
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