Potato smileys are golden and crispy potato snacks made with potato mash and a few choice seasonings, shaped as the emoji of a smiley.
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Potato Smileys
Potato Smileys are delicious golden potato based snacks made with potato mash and seasonings. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
They make a great dish as an after-school snack or a great appetizer at parties for kids and adults alike.
I make these on the regular since they don’t take too much time to prep. Potato smileys are freezer friendly and healthy-ish when made at home.
Ingredients for Potato Smileys
The first ingredient you need is potato (obviously! :)). You can use 3-4 large potatoes to make 10-12 medium size potato smileys.
You will also need corn starch – this really helps bind the potato mixture together and remove any moisture they might have after boiling the potatoes.
Then come the seasonings of your choice. In this recipe I have used onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper and a little turmeric to add to the yellow colour. You can also use red chilli powder, oregano, paprika, red chilli flakes.
Or make it completely Indian flavours by adding jeera powder, coriander powder and garam masala. But I will say that potato smileys are most often associated with little to no spices but just a little hint of it for flavour.
How to make Potato Smileys at home?
The first step is to boil the potatoes. I usually pressure cook them for 3-4 whistles and they turn out to be sufficiently soft for a potato mash texture.
Once pressure has come down naturally, remove the potatoes from the cooker and let it cool down. It is important to allow the cooked potatoes to cool since this will reduce the moisture in the potatoes when mashing. Remove the skins and place it in a bowl for mashing.
Mash the potatoes until have a smooth texture. Now, add the cornstarch and seasoning. With a clean hand, knead the potato mixture until you have a smooth dough.
Take the dough and place it on a clean surface and roll it out with the help of a rolling pin. You can also flatten it out with your hand in an outward manner along the edges until you have reached about 1 inch of thickness of the dough.
Now, take a round cup or a round cookie cutter and make as many smileys as you can. Peel the rest of the dough from the sides so that you have only the smileys left on the surface.
Take a straw and poke holes to make two eyes. Now, take a spoon that has a good curve and make a long cut for the smile in the smiley potatoes.
Now, you can use the rest of the dough by rolling them out again and cutting more smileys. When you have reached the last stage where you have very little potato mash left, you can shape the circular disks with your hand and use them all up.
Once you’ve made all the smileys, you can rest them in the fridge on a baking tray for 30 minutes. You can fry them right away, but freezing before frying is a process that is recommended. The potatoes will get much crispier this way.
Frying the Potato Smileys
There are several ways you can fry the smileys – deep fry, shallow fry, bake or air fry.
– Deep fry
Place a pan on medium flame and add cooking oil. Let it warm up. Once the oil is warm, add the frozen potato smileys to the oil gently. If there are icicles on it, they will tend to splatter in the oil, so be careful. Add only as many 2-3 pieces depending on the size of your pan or kadai. It’s best not to crowd the oil.
Fry on one side, flip and fry on the other sides until they are gold and crispy on both sides. Remove the potato smileys from the oil and drain the excess oil on kitchen tissue.
– Shallow fry
This process is similar to deep fry, but you can use this technique if you have less oil at home or if you want to use less oil for the frying process. Let me also tell you that using less oil does not mean the potato smileys will absorb less oil.
Place a pan on medium heat and add about 1/2 an inch of oil. Place the frozen potato smileys on the pan. It is best to keep the same heat in the oil – you might be tempted to increase them temp to make it cook quickly, but I recommend that you dont.
Once one side is crisp, flip to the other side and shallow fry until golden brown. Remove the potato smileys from the oil and drain the excess oil on kitchen tissue.
– Baking
Pre heat the oven to 200 C or 450 F for 10 minutes. Take the potato smileys out of the freezer and remove any icicles you might find on it.
Take a baking tray and line it with parchment paper. If you do not have parchment paper, a layer of oil will also help.
Place the smileys on the baking tray with an inch or two gaps between them. With the use of brush, apply oil to both sides of the smileys generously.
Once your oven has preheated, place the tray in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Now, take the tray out of the oven and flip the smileys to bake evenly. Place it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
Once both sides are golden, remove from the tray and serve immediately.
– Air fryer
Pre heat your air fryer for 5 minutes at 180C. Meanwhile, brush the potato smileys with oil on both sides.
Place them in the air fryer for and cook for 5 minutes. Take the tray out and flip the potato smileys so that they are golden on both sides evenly. Remove from the fryer and serve immediately.
Shelf Life and Storage
The fried potato smileys are the best tasting when consumed immediately. But you can make them in advance and keep them in a food heater if they are being served for party later in the day.
You may, however, prepare the potato smileys (before the frying stage) and store them in the freezer for a good 3 months. You have to first make the smileys, place them flat on a tray and allow to freeze for an hour or two. Now that the shape has been set, you can remove them and store them in a ziplock or a silicone pouch for up to 3 months.
When you want to make them, take only as many as you want and leave the rest in the freezer.
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Recipe
Potato Smileys
Ingredients
- 4-5 Potatoes large
- 1/4 cup Corn Starch
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Salt and Pepper
- ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
- 2 cups Cooking Oil for frying
Instructions
- The first step is to boil the potatoes. You can pressure cook the potatoes for 2-3 whistles and allow it to cool down. You can also boil the potatoes until they have reached a consistency where they are mashable – this will take 20 minutes.
- Once the potatoes have cooled, peel the skin and add them to a bowl. Mash them until they have no lumps.
- Next, add all the seasonings you've chosen. In this recipe, I have used onion powder, garlic powder, turmeric powder, salt and pepper. Add the corn starch as well.
- Mix well and make it into a smooth dough. It should look like smooth potato dough.
- Next, take the dough on a clean surface for rolling. With the help of a rolling pin, roll the potato mash until they are about and an 1-1.5 inches thick.
- With the help of a cookie cutter or a small bowl, carve out the circular disks. For the eyes, use a straw and make two holes. For the shape of the mouth, use a spoon and punch in the smile. Remove the excess dough and keep the potato smileys aside. You can use the excess dough to make more smileys. When you reach the last few bit of dough, you can hand shape the circular disks.
- Place the prepared smileys in the freezer for a minimum of 30 minutes.
- Place a pan/ kadai on a medium flame and pour the cooking oil. Depending on the size of your kadai, you can either increase or decrease the quantity of oil. (If you are looking at other ways of cooking the potato smileys, please refer to the earlier sections of this blog post)
- Once the oil is warm, add the semi frozen potato smileys in the oil. Once they are golden on one side, flip to the other side and fry them until golden.
- Remove them from the oil and drain excess oil on a kitchen tissue paper.
- Serve your Potato Smileys with ketchup or a dip of your choice.
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