Who doesn’t like a dish made out of potatoes, the starchy and easily available vegetable(a root actually). I guess most of us, while eating out would have definitely tasted a food made out of potatoes as part of our menu :)

And this Potato cheese balls and smileys, a mouth watering food has a notable place across the menus all over the world!

As this is a iftar season, I got the inspiration from Cooking with Benazir and cloned this recipe from the YouTube channel, for #copycat speed challenge. More details about the recipe, can be found here :
https://youtu.be/3JAZ9PynO5M

Supplies

Potatoes(Small) - 4-5 in numbers
Onions(Medium) - 1/4 of the onion, chopped.
Pepper powder - as required
Chilli powder - as required
Salt - as required
Ginger paste - as required
Chopped coriander - as required
Mozzarella Cheese - 20 grams
Corn Flour - for dusting
Oil - for frying

Step 1: Making of Base for Dough

For base, here we gonna use potatoes.

Very simple steps:
1. Take equal sized potatoes.
2. Boil them along, with outer skin.
3. Once it is fully boiled(not mushy), turn off heat and allow them to cool.
4. Peel off the outer skin.
5. Mash them nicely, without bigger pieces.

Step 2: Add Up Ingredients and Make the Dough

Now we need to add the other stuff. Chop 1/4 of medium sized onions, to tiny pieces. If you prefer more onions, you may add as a paste or use grater. If there are more of onions than potatoes, we may not get dough properly.

To the mashed potatoes add :
1. Chilli powder
2. Pepper powder
3. Ginger paste
4. Salt
5. Chopped onions, coriander leaves

*** Every ingredients added above, is as per ones taste buds specification. You may alter for your own. ***

In addition to that, I added Garam masala powder (an Indian version of flavouring agent/masala, made of various spices). And also instead of coriander I used finely chopped curry leaves, as per my taste.

Step 3: Making of Balls, for Frying

Take small portion of dough and make small balls.

Cut little amount of cheese bits, and keep it at the centre of the balls. Be sure to close, across all the sides properly.

Now, to another bowl add little amount of flour. We will use this flour for dusting purpose. Here I used wheat flour as per my diet requirement. You could use All purpose flour or corn flour, as per your interest.

Once the balls are prepared, roll it over the dusting flour and keep it ready for frying.

Step 4: Smileys, the Making

For the smileys, we need to be bit careful. As the dough get sticked to most surfaces, I used (washed and dried) plastic sheets to make them.

1. Place the required amount of dough at the centre of a plastic sheet.
2. Now, Wrap/close the dough (on top) with the other end of the sheet. You may use another sheet as well.
3. To press the dough (covered with plastic sheet), I used chapati (An Indian bread made of wheat) roller and pressed the dough. If you do not have a roller, you can make use of any vessel that has flat bottom. So that you can compress the dough through the plastic sheet.
4. Open the upper sheet. Place a clean and circular shaped glass on the dough and cut out the dough in circle shape.
5. Draw the features of the smiley, with a wooden stick.

Step 5: Frying Part

For frying, heat oil in a pan in medium flame.

Once the oil is ready for frying, drop the balls and fry it till it turned golden brown in colour.

For smileys, better way is to place the smiley onto the ladle and drop into the heated oil. This will help you to retain the shapes. It is mostly applicable to any other shapes as well.

Flip the balls/smileys in oil, till it turned golden brown.