Chicken and Cheese Balls

Today's post is something I had made in Ramadan to open our fast with. It's heavy and different from the normal kebabs/cutlets I make. My sister in-law, Lubna had made them back home and they went down very well with everyone, from kids to adults in the house. 
Knowing how much I love to try new recipes, my mom told me about them and Lubna forwarded me the recipe.

These chicken and cheese balls have a surprise ingredient that adds a differently nice flavour to them. As all surprise ingredients, this one is also not detectable unless pointed out.
The surprise ingredient is simple - plain boiled PASTA!!! Yes that's right, pasta! I never thought plain boiled pasta would add a nice flavour to anything but I was wrong. 
Any pasta of your choice can be added just as long as it is boiled until soft and drained well. I used spaghetti because that's the only pasta I had at home. I had taken these chicken and cheese balls to my friend's place and they were a big hit with her kids. It has potatoes, chicken, pasta and cheese - everything kids love plus corn and green peppers.
Here's what you will need to make the chicken and cheese balls
Preparation time - 20 minutes
Cooking time -15 minutes
Makes around 40 medium sized chicken and cheese balls
Suitable for freezing and storage
Ingredients
2 large potatoes - boiled, peeled and mashed
2/3 cup of boiled pasta
1 cup shredded chicken
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/2 cup corn kernels
1/2 cup green peppers
1 tsp green chilli paste
1 tsp pepper powder
salt to taste
to coat the balls you will need
bread crumbs
2-3 eggs
oil to deep fry

Method

• Add green chilli paste, pepper powder and salt to taste to the mashed potatoes and mix well. Adding the spices and salt to the potatoes ensures that they are evenly spread in the base of the cutlets.

• To this add the pasta and mash well so that it blends into the potatoes.

• Add the grated cheese(any type you like), chicken, corn and peppers to this mash and mix well.

• Make medium sized balls out of this mix, dip them in egg and roll them out in bread crumbs. The balls can be frozen and stored in food bags at this stage

• Deep fry in hot oil until a lovely golden brown.

Serve hot with ketchup or mayo or get creative and make a lovely dip by combining 2 tbsps mayo with 1 tbsp ketchup and enjoy.

Notes

1. The amount of cheese can be increased or decreased according to your taste. The amount of cheese I used is less in comparison to the amount of potatoes and pasta I used.
2. You can make these without chicken as well. Rest of the ingredients in the same quantity.
3. If you want to freeze them, spread them on a flat plate and cling wrap them. Freeze for a day. When hard, remove and transfer into freezer bags. 
4. Boil the chicken in ginger garlic paste if you want a touch of Indian flavour in them. Boil the pasta with a tsp of olive oil added to the water. Let the pasta cook until soft and drain them well. Rinse under cold running water to prevent them from sticking together.
5. Use salt while boiling the pasta and chicken and be careful not to add too much salt to the potatoes. Keep in mind the salt already added to the chicken and pasta.
6. Add around 2 tbsps of water to the eggs before coating the balls. This ensures that the balls are coated evenly and a nice thin layer is formed

Shabnam