I’m calling these Mexican potato fritters (or pancakes!) Because that’s the idea they’re based on. Masa Harina meets potato for a perfect crispy potato fritter.

If you love corn tortillas and love potato then these are your new best friends. Please give them a shot!

Tips

• Use a potato that’s made for mashing, it will be marked at your grocer or supermarket that way. Different potatoes are better for different cooking techniques. A potato is not just a potato, it comes in a glorious range of flavours and textures! You want something that will be nice and fluffy. Water content of potatoes varies so you may need to adjust the water a little bit.
• Masa harina is the type of masa you can make tortillas with by just adding water. It has to be this kind of masa. It is not just corn flour or corn meal. You can buy it at markets, some delis and online. How easy it is to get will depend on where you live.
• This is a basic cooking tip: vegetables that grow underground (root vegetables!) should always start cooking in cold water. 
• Also, never cook potatoes in a huge amount of water, you want the water to just cover them by 2cm cms. This will make them cook faster, considering the above tip. Salt the water! It helps to season the potatoes. And last potato tip, Once the water has come to a boil, turn everything down to a simmer. It will help them cook more evenly.
• If you don’t have a tortilla press you can use a chopping board and a small fry pan to press down. Just don’t press too hard. You might find you don’t need to turn them when doing this, it just depends how evenly you can apply your weight.

Makes 8 Potato Cakes

Ingredients

1kg washed potatoes

1/3 cup water

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

½ cup masa harina

1 tsp salt

Oil for frying (I use olive oil but vegetable ids fine)

Optional filling

8 tsps cheese of choice (I like feta, cojita or manchego

8 slices pickled jalapeno

To serve

Sourcream, or yoghurt

Hot sauce

Avocado

Pineapple Salsa

¼ cup finely chopped pineapple

⅓ cup finely chopped cucumber

2 Tbs coriander

2 Tbs spring onion

1 Tbs finely chopped jalapeno

Directions

Chop potatoes into 4cm chunks, or bigger as long as they’re the same size. There’s no need to peel if using washed potatoes but you can if you want to. Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water (1-2cm above the potatoes). Add a big pinch of salt. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes or until soft when pricked with a fork. Drain and mash.

Transfer potato to a large bowl and add the water oil, and masa harina. Use a big wooden spoon to mix it all together. It should hold together when clumped in your hands. If it’s too dry you can add more water 1 Tbs at a time. 

Wet your hands and make 8 even balls of potato mix. Use a tortilla press (or see above if you don’t have one) place baking paper on the base of the press, put a potato ball on top, cover with another piece of baking paper. Press down lightly, lift up, turn the potato 90 degrees and repeat twice more.

You will now have a disc of potato, place the 1 tsp of cheese and a slice of jalapeno in the center and fold the edges to cover. The potato should now be in a rectangle with rounded edges. Cover again and press lightly with the tortilla press. Turning three times to make sure its even, this seals everything in. Be very gently this time as you still want a rectangle of potato. You may need to repeat this step if you’ve made it too flat. See video.

Once each potato Cake is shaped, use the bottom piece of baking paper to transfer to a large tray and repeat until your done.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. You want the potato cakes to have a skin but not be brown. A little lifht colour isn’t an issue.

While these are cooking mix the salsa ingredients together in abowl. Taste and season to your liking

Remove from the oven and set aside. You can freeze them at this point.

I use a cast iron pan to fry them, fill it with 1cm of oil. Test the oil with a little bread or hold your hand 5cm above the oil and make sure it feels hot. Add 2 potato cakes at a time, or 3 if your pan can fit them. They should sizzle when they hit the pan. Cook for 3 minutes each side or until golden and crispy as pictured. Remove with a slotted (metal!) spatula and let the oil drip off, transfer to a wire rack. 

Sprinkle with salt. Top with salsa and avocado. And a dollop of sour cream or yoghurt.

HH. x