Colombia: Papas Rellenas con Carne

Colombia: Paps Rellenas con Carne

A classic Colombian dish, which is extremely delicious but takes some time to make.

Ingredients - Enough for 4 people.

• 8 large potatoes, peeled
• 500g of ground beef
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 240ml of Hogao
• 3 beaten eggs
• 100g of all purpose flour
• Salt to taste
• Vegetable oil for shallow frying

How to make it

1. Peel and cook the large potatoes in salt water for 30 minutes or until soft.
2. Hard-boil 2 eggs (12min) and let cool. When cooled chop into cubes.
3. In a large non-stick pan cook, with a little bit of vegetable oil, the ground beef.
4. When fully browned and cooked through mix with the Hogao and the chopped egg, until everything is evenly incorporated.
5. Here is where the original recipe deviates a bit, as it instructs to cut off the top of the cooked potatoes and hollow them out with a small spoon. What I found was that is was extremely hard to do and all potatoes broke apart while trying to make a right sized cavity.
6. I opted to cut the cooked potatoes into cubes (when doing it this way, one can chop them into cubes from the beginning).
7. In a large bowl I combined the potato cubes, 3 beaten eggs and the flour and mixed it until it was all incorporated. Because the potatoes are quite soft, it gives a chunky mixture.
8. In a large pan heat 3cm of vegetable frying oil to about 180* C.
9. With a pair of tongs or two spoons, get some of the potato mix and make little dollops in the pan.
10. Shallow fry them until golden brown on one side before flipping them. Don’t overcrowd the pan.
11. Drip off the access oil on a paper towel before preparing to serve.
12. Put the fried potatoes on a plate, serve with the ground beef and the Hogao on top. Enjoy!

Ingredients - Hogao

• 10 ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced
• 6 spring onions, sliced
• 4 yellow onions, diced
• 4 gloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 Tbsp Saffron Color (Special Colombian Spice)
• 1 bell peper, diced
• 2 sweet chillies
• Salt, pepper and comino to taste
• 3 Tbsp of EVOO

Howe to do it

1. Chop all the ingredients as instructed above.
2. Heat the EVOO in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
3. Put all the ingredients into the sauce pan. Cover and cook until all is soft and incorporated. 20 to 30 minutes.
4. Season with salt, pepper and comino to taste.
5. Set aside for later use.