Vegan "Cheesy" Potato Munchers

In my neck of the woods, we have a local fast food drive-in that sells these little fried potato concoctions which I loved to eat during my non-vegan days. They are kind of a mix between a tater tot, a jalapeño popper, and a cheesy tot all rolled into one. 

Since going vegan (3 years now, woo hoo,) the days of rolling into this particular drive-in have vanished along with the aspirations of having these little fried devils too. Well recently I came across a how to video on making vegan Jalapeño Poppers and I decided to take a stab at making my favorite little fast food snack. 

My friends, it was a success! So why not share the potato love?!

The list of ingredients goes like this:

(The amount of ingredients can vary depending on your taste and can be adjusted as you please.)

2lbs of organic russet potatoes (peeled and cut into 1inch cubes.)

1 cup of shredded Diaya "cheese" (I used pepper jack but cheddar would be perfect too!)

About 4-5 whole pickled jalapeños (chopped- remove the seeds if you want to tone down the heat.)

Salt and pepper to taste. (Additional and optional spices can include: garlic powder, onion powder, and herbs like rosemary or thyme all work wonderful with potatoes.)

Start by partially cooking some organic potatoes... About 10 minutes is what it took me...

Mash up your potatoes, add in some shredded Daiya cheese (I used the pepper jack version) and some chopped pickled jalapeños. Mix in salt and pepper to taste at this point and any other spice you care to throw in. (Get crazy, it's your snack therefore your call.)

Roll a small (one inch or so) ball of the potato mixture in your palms and shape them like a thick quarter. At this point you can coat them in some panko bread crumbs to give these bad boys a crunchy finish. 

At this point you can bake your potatoes in a 425 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes or you can do what I did here and pan fry them. I took my trusty cast iron skillet and browned them with some coconut oil. In a medium high heat, these only took about 5 minutes on each side (give or take.)

After they are crispy enough for you, take them out of your pan and drain the excess oil on some paper towels... Wait a few minutes to cool and enjoy! Or burn your mouth as you pop these in your mouth straight off the skillet like I did. 

I make a ginormous batch of these for my nephew's birthday and froze about half of them (rolled but not fried) to fry up at a later time. This worked our great and I was able to fry up a few here and there for my quick lunches during the week. 

I think these little treats are going to be highly requested by my family for all future gatherings haha! They are DELICIOUS! 

Provecho! 

~Norm