Of birthdays and cheesy Cheese Balls…
These little golden fried, crunchy, cheesy bites of deliciousness bring back memories of birthday parties. Traditional recipe this is not, but Ayah made it her own tradition to host splendid parties for both her daughters – they were not going to miss out on birthdays like she had. I don’t believe Ayah even knew when her special day was until well into her teens, when her older sister, in a fit of evilness, told her that she was a fool for having been born on April Fool’s Day! Growing up in a remote village in India at a day and age when births were routine business and birth certificates were fudged for convenience sake, birthdays were a non-entity. My children were completely flabbergasted by this utterly alien concept! Aiyah on the other hand had grown up the darling oldest son who was pampered on his birthday, and so it was that Ayah adopted this practice for her beloved daughters and in later years for her sons-in-law and grandchildren. Of course, living overseas as we were, the various speed post and courier companies in Madras were quite delighted to reap the benefits of this tradition!
Birthday parties, much to our delight, meant presents. It was also a time that Ayah was in her element, experimenting with party food. Cheese balls were almost always on the menu but over the years we’ve had from-scratch spring rolls, prawn tempura, vol-au-vents and much more. Of Ayah’s repertoire of party food, the relatively easy to make Cheese Balls are my children’s absolute favourite, and so the recipe lives on - down to the use of Amul cheese. Sadly, in a quest for healthier and less time consuming food, some of our other birthday favourite recipes have been lost to us. However, we will work on researching them and post once we find something that matches our memory of Ayah’s.
From the utterly butterly delicious girl’s first advertisement in 1966 to her tribute to the medical staff fighting the pandemic in 2020…
Picture courtesy: Amul World App
Talking of Amul, to many of us who grew up in India in the 70s, 80s and even 90s, the only cheese (and butter) we ever knew was Amul. The brand has a fascinating history - one that resulted in India becoming the world’s largest producer of milk and most Indians identifying with the utterly, butterly delicious Amul butter girl who had a tongue-in-cheese (oops! cheek) opinion on whatever was the hot topic of the day, whether it was a mega movie release or sport or other more important matters of the world. Sometimes creative, sometimes controversial, the often bilingual advertisements sure were topical and made you give them at least a moment of thought even though the young me didn’t always understand them. Aiyah was a huge fan of the little blue haired moppet and her one-liners, just as he was of young Dennis the Menace. To me, the polka-dotted, pony-tailed cherub’s home in Madras was the huge hoarding at the junction of Mount Road (now Anna Salai) and Ethiraj Salai, near Spencers - one we eagerly looked out for on drives along the then relatively traffic-free Mount Road. I’m told she still lives there, the traffic though is a different story. By the way, my copy editors, my children, had not heard of either the Amul butter girl or Dennis and had a whale of a time researching both!
In any case, lesson on history aside, I was delighted to discover this old favourite at the Indian stores in Singapore and out came the recipe for cheese balls. So, we hope you enjoy a taste of our birthday parties…
Note: I like to use Amul cheese for reasons mentioned above, but any processed cube cheese or cheddar is fine
Ingredients:
2 medium sized potatoes
75 gm grated cheddar cheese (use a small hole grater) or 3 cubes of processed cheese grated
½ small onion, minced fine
1 green chilli, minced
Salt to taste (~¾ tsp)
Pepper to taste (~½ tsp)
Water for boiling the potatoes
Oil for frying
Optional: 2 sprigs of coriander, minced
For the coating:
5 tablespoons (75 gm) plain flour / maida
About 150 ml water
Salt to taste (~ ¾ tsp)
Pepper to taste (~¼ tsp)
5 tablespoons (75 gm) fine bread crumbs
Method:
1. Boil the potatoes, skin on, either in a pressure cooker (5 whistles) or in a pot. Once boiled, cool the potatoes then peel and grate using a large hole grater.
2 medium sized potatoes
Water for boiling the potatoes
Note: if using a pot to boil the potatoes, use a skewer or a toothpick to pierce the potato. If it goes through easily, they are cooked enough. Another indication is that the skin of the potatoes will crack.
2. Mix the potatoes (ensure its completely cold) with the minced onion, chilli, coriander (if using), salt and pepper. Finally add the grated cheese and mix. Don’t overmix or the cheese will melt. Check for salt and add more if required.
75 gm grated cheddar cheese (use a small hole grater) or 3 cubes of processed cheese grated
½ small onion, minced fine
1 green chilli, minced
Salt to taste (~¾ tsp)
Pepper to taste (~½ tsp)
Optional: 2 sprigs of coriander, minced
Note: if you are not an onion fan, or would like a non-spicy version, leave out the onions and the green chilli.
3. Make small lime sized balls with the potato cheese mixture.
Apprentice Notes: While rolling the cheese balls, the mixture kept sticking to the hand making it difficult to make perfect balls. Make sure your hands are clean, pick up the mixture with your fingers and roll it between your palms. Also, don’t worry too much about the shape in this step as you can reshape them once they are coated and crumbed.
4. Make the coating batter - mix the plain flour with salt, pepper and water (start with about 120 ml and increase if required). Make sure there are no lumps. The consistency of the batter should be thin, but able to stick to the potato ball. Check the seasoning, add more salt and pepper if required.
5 tablespoons (75 gm) plain flour / maida
About 150 ml water
Salt to taste (~ ¾ tsp)
Pepper to taste (~¼ tsp)
5. To coat (view video for detailed instructions):
a) Set up your coating station - first the potato cheese balls, next the coating batter in a bowl, then the bread crumbs in a bowl or deep plate and finally a plate to arrange the finished cheese balls.
b) Pick up a potato cheese ball with one hand, drop it into the coating batter. Coat thoroughly - if not, then the breadcrumbs will not stick to the cheese ball when frying.
c) With the same hand, pick up the coated ball and drop it into the breadcrumbs. Use your other hand, which should be completely dry, to coat with the crumbs (if wet, the crumbs will stick to your hand).
d) Use the palms of both hands to roll the ball into the right shape. Dust off any extra crumbs and put the crumb coated cheese ball on a plate.
5 tablespoons (75 gm) fine bread crumbs
6. Once done, chill the balls in the fridge for at least an hour or until ready to fry.
7. Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Take out as many cheese balls as you want to fry. Leave the rest in the fridge because the cheese may melt depending on how hot the kitchen in.
Oil for frying
8. Once the oil is hot (you can check by dropping in a bit of the coating batter – if it rises up immediately, the oil is hot), turn the heat to medium and fry the cheese balls until golden brown. Turn the balls once in a while but not too much as they will split.
9. Drain and serve hot with tomato sauce or just by itself.
Apprentice Notes: The last few balls exploded in the oil and I figured there could be a few reasons for this:
The oil had overheated, so take care to control the heat while frying – maintain medium heat, turn off the flame for a few seconds if the oil overheats.
Don’t leave the cheese balls out of the fridge for a long time as the cheese, especially if using grated cheddar, tends to melt and causes the balls to explode on frying. Take out only 5-10 balls at a time.
Some of the cheese balls were not well coated with the coating mixture and so didn’t hold the crumbs well. Make sure the balls are well coated before crumbing them.
Makes: about 15-20 balls
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