Cottage Cheese Stuffed Baked Potatoes

A perfect idea of happiness to me is serving delicious food to my family and guests and this time baked potatoes made with Indian flavors and loaded with lots of cheese won the heart of all. I just love them as they are my ultimate comfort food. My friends keep on wanting for more and more of them..

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it but my favorite recipe has to be potatoes loaded would be butter, cheese, and two generous dollops of sour cream. It’s just so good. At times baked beans
and cheese would just be enough to satisfy my cravings.

Baked potatoes are the absolute delicious thing you can make with hardly any effort, but it requires a fair amount of patience. I had this urge of having baked potatoes and decided to make them today using Indian spices.

So here’s a spin on the classic baked potatoes inspired by Indian flavors, potatoes marinated with a few spices, stuffed with cottage cheese and topped with a generous amount of cheese and baked to perfection. This wonderful dish has become a great hit among my family and friends.

I made these potatoes, especially for potluck dinner hosted at my place, and everybody just loved them. All the preparatory work as done ahead of time and all you i needed to do is just pop them in the oven right before serving.

The next time you have craving for potatoes, make these yummy, spicy and cheesy stuffed potatoes. You’re just gonna love it.

So here’s what you will need :

Ingredients

3 big potatoes

Mozzarella cheese

For the filling

3 almonds – blanched & chopped very finely

4 tbsp grated cottage cheese (about 50 grams)

1 tbsp mint leaves chopped

1 green chili deseeded and chopped

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp kashmiri red chili powder

1/4 tsp dry mango powder

salt to taste

For covering

1/2 cup thick yogurt (hung in a muslin cloth for about 30 min)

1 inch ginger – finely chopped and then crushed

1/4 tsp kashmiri red chili powder (for that beautiful color)

Crush together to a rough powder

1 tsp shahi jeera

Seeds of 2 brown cardamom

2 – 3 blades of mace (javitri)

6-8 black peppercorns

Instructions :

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Boil potatoes in salted water till just tender. Peel skin as they cool

Blanch almonds (remove skin by soaking them in hot water) and chop them very finely. Mix chopped almonds with mint leaves, green chilies, 4 tbsp grated cottage cheese, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp garam masala, ¼ tsp red chili powder and a pinch of dry mango powder.

Using a mortar and pestle crush together shahi jeera, seeds of brown cardamom and javitri to a
course powder.

To the cottage cheese mixture, add ½ tsp of the freshly ground spice powder.

Mix hung curd, crushed ginger, leftover crushed spice powder, red chili powder and salt.

Run the tip of a fork on the surface of the potatoes, making the surface rough. (the rough surface
hold the masala well).

Cut each potatoes into 2 halves, vertically. Scoop out a little to get a small cavity in each potato
with the back of a teaspoon. Stuff the cottage cheese filling into the cavity.

With the spoon apply the yogurt mixture on the outside of the potatoes and on the rims as well (not
on the filling).

Place the potatoes on greased baking tray and bake for 15 minutes till the coating gets slightly dry.
Baste the potatoes with melted butter and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top, grill for further 10 minutes till the coating gets completely dry and cheese turns lovely golden in color.

Viola these lovely potatoes are ready to be indulged.

Serve with mint and coriander chutney.

Bon Appétit

Lotsa love,