Perfectly crisp oven baked papa rellena!

Papa Rellena (pronounced Reyena) was probably our favourite food out of all the great and exciting things we ate in South America – This Peruvian staple was everywhere, and it was nearly the first thing we ate when we crossed the border from Chile. This got us wondering – can we make it healthy? Enter the oven baked Papa Rellena!

Papa Rellena came with many different flavours of stuffing, the most common being a spicy mince or chicken, and was always deep fried. Here we’ve made a simple vegetarian stuffing, but you can substitute for whatever you feel like really.

The other main adjustment, of course, is that these are oven-baked and not deep fried, and so have waaaay less fat – which of course means that you can eat more of them!

Traditionally served with a spicy peanut sauce, but anything fresh and zingy works well.

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5 from 1 vote

Oven baked papa rellena

Crispy, soft, healthy goodness

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Andean, south american

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 6 medium potatoes Makes about 1 papa rellena per potato, so plan accordingly.
• 1/2 cup cake flour in a bowl
• 1 egg, lightly beaten In a bowl
• 2 slices of white or brown bread, toasted and blitzed into crumbs In a bowl

Stuffing

• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• a handful mushrooms, chopped
• 1 green chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 10 g Fresh coriander washed twice and chopped
• salt, pepper, lime juice, milk

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 240C Fan (or the hottest it can go)
• Prick the potatoes and cook them, covered, in the microwave for 10 minutes, or until completely soft. Set aside to cool down, then peel and mash until smooth. Season with a little salt, and if necessary add a splash of milk to ensure that they stick together nicely – your mash should be firm but not breaking apart at the edges.
• Fry the onion and chilli for the stuffing on a high heat until golden, then add the mushrooms and garlic and saute until soft and cooked – about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, wilt in the washed and chopped coriander, and season with salt, pepper and lime juice.
• Take a lump of mash about the size of a small egg and roll it into a ball between your hands, then press flat to get a disk about 2/3 cm thick and about the size of your palm.

  Place a lump of stuffing inside, fold the edges over and seal, making a ball. Place one side on a greased tray with baking paper and repeat with all the balls.
• Once all your balls are done, take each one and roll it in the flour first, passing from hand to hand to make sure all the excess drops off. Then roll around in the egg, and finally in the breadcrumbs. Place back on the greased baking paper.

  Repeat for all the balls, then bake in your hot oven for 12-15 minutes, until the outside is perfectly crisp and golden-brown.

  Serve hot as an appetizer with a chilli peanut sauce, or as a fancy starch next to some other glorious veggies.

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