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Peruvian vegan papas rellenas filled with walnuts
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Vegan papas rellenas

Papas rellenas, or stuffed potatoes, are fried balls of mashed potatoes with a delicious filling. This vegan, Peruvian version is filled with blended walnuts, raisins, and olives. Serve with salsa criolla, a salsa made from raw onion, lime, and fresh chilies.
Servings 4 papas rellenas

Equipment

  • blender or food processor

Ingredients

Potato dough

  • 500 g potatoes, boiled
  • 1 tbsp all-purpose flour if needed

Filling

  • 100 mL walnuts
  • ¼ onion
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tsp minced chili or chili paste, or to taste see note
  • 1 tbsp tomato pure
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 6 olives
  • 1 tbsp raisins
  • extra firm tofu optional, see note

For frying

  • 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • plant-based milk, unsweetened if needed
  • vegetable oil, such as canola

Salsa criolla

  • ½ red onion
  • 1 pepper, to taste e.g. jalapeño; see note
  • 50 mL cilantro
  • 1 lime
  • 1 tsp vegetable oil, such as canola
  • salt to taste

Instructions

Salsa criolla

  • Salsa criolla is best to prepare a bit in advance so it can rest for about 30 min.
  • Finely slice the red onion.
    Deseed and slice the pepper. Adjust the amount to suit you.
    Chop the cilantro.
  • Mix in a bowl, add juice from one lime, a pinch of salt, and a bit of canola oil. Mix and set aside.

Potato dough

  • Peel, cube and boil the potatoes if not already done. Drain and let them cool slightly and mash them with a potato masher to form a smooth mash. Set aside to cool.
  • Try shaping the dough into a ball. It should hold its shape and be easy to work with. You might have to add a little flour to make it firmer.

Filling

  • Optional: soak the walnuts for 30 min to remove some bitterness.
  • Quickly pulse the walnuts in a blender to create crumbs.
  • Mince onion and garlic. Mince fresh chili if using.
  • Add onion and garlic to a pan on medium to high heat. Sweat until translucent and fragrant.
  • Add cumin, paprika, salt, tomato pure, chili paste or fresh chilis. Stir.
  • Add the ground walnuts. Stir. If it looks dry, add a bit of water to help the mixing.
  • Cook for 10+ minutes, adding water if needed. The final filling should be quite dry.
  • Chop olives and add to the pan. Add raisins.
  • Set aside to cool slightly-

Assembly

  • When the potato dough and filling are cool enough to handle, assemble the papas rellenas.
  • Place some flour on a plate.
  • Take 1/4 of the potato dough (if making 4, ~500 g potatoes) and form a ball. It's size should be somewhere between a golf ball and a tennis ball.
    If the dough is sticking to your hands, you can dust your hands with flour.
  • Flatten the ball into a disc-like bowl, about 1 cm thick. Place two spoons of filling in the potato bowl and carefully close the bowl around it.
    Tidy up the potato ball, shaping it into something resembling a lemon.
  • Roll the papa rellena in some flour. If the flour does not stick, try brushing the potato ball with some water or plant-based milk.
  • Heat about 1 cm oil in a small pan. When it is hot, add the papa rellena and fry it about 1 min per side, turning it often. When it is golden all around, it ready. Place on a plate with some kitchen wipes.
  • Continue making papas rellenas and frying.
  • You can also prepare all papas rellenas before frying. Place them on a plate with a light dusting of flour while they wait.
  • Serve the papas rellenas with your fresh salsa criolla.

Notes

Chili in filling: See the text in the blog post about Peruvian chilis. Ideally, you would find fresh aji amarillo or aji panca. You can substitute with a medium-heat chili like serrano peppers. Alternatively, you could find some Peruvian chili paste to use. I found some aji amarillo paste at my local Latin American store which I used in the filling.
Extra firm tofu chopped into small chunks can be used to add a texture element mimicking that of boiled eggs in omnivore Peruvian papas rellenas.
Chili in salsa criolla: use a chili with a heat suitable for your taste. You can use bell pepper if you prefer.