Potato Baskets / The Ultimate Bird’s nest

Last week, I was in a mood for some chaat. I wanted to use my son’s mini waffle maker to make something other than waffles and struck upon the idea of giving plain ole potato chaat a makeover. I have read about using the waffle maker to make hash browns and immediately had visions about potato waffles topped with some tasty peas and dips! However, when I started making the waffles I noticed that they were not turning out crispy or rather as per my vision of potato waffles with those pretty waffle cubes on top of which I could generously spread some peas sauce. That’s when the idea to use my muffin pan hit me and I ended up making cute potato baskets and these turned out to be a better canvas for my idea!

I just got a little ahead of myself thinking that I had tried out something new, only to discover that the potato basket chaat is a popular dish amongst the Indian Chaat community! However, I was thrilled to note that everybody deep fries the potato using complicated methods to get the shape of the basket and I had managed to achieve that using a trusty muffin pan! A small victory and some delicious healthy food sans all the cooking and cleaning that comes with deep frying.

For some reason, this creation reminded me of an appetizer called “Bird’s Nest” which used to be prepared by one of my classmate’s mom in school during potlucks or common lunches as we used to call them. The “nest” was super popular – it was potato covered with semolina deep fried to perfection. After school I never remembered said class mate until today when I saw the potato basket and even then I remembered her sweet, soft spoken mom more than her…

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Back to my basket, my son decided that this is the ultimate gourmet birds nest especially when it was filled with peas as the green peas looked like pretty eggs! As much as he hates he veggies, he condescended and ate one nest 🙂

The possibilities for stuffing this is endless and depends on ones imagination. Apart from the peas stuffing that I used(the recipe for which will be shared in a separate post), one can stuff with cheese (imagine a cheese pizza flavored cup for kids – perfect for play dates!) or a spoon of your favorite salad or dips..pretty much anything that can fit into the cup!

What you need:

• 5 -6 medium sized potatoes, peeled and grated
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp of turmeric
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp chaat masala
• 1 tsp besan (chickpea) powder
• 1- 2 tbsps of bread crumbs
• Oil – to grease the muffin pans

How I did it:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F
2. Squeeze the potatoes to remove the water content and add the dry potatoes to a mixing bowl
3. Add all the dry ingredients and mix well
4. Coat the muffin pan well with olive oil
5. Drop in the grated potatoes into the molds and shape them around the mold with your fingers to make basket shapes.
6. Pop in the tray into the oven and bake well for about 30-40 minutes / until the potatoes start turning golden brown.
7. My suggestion would be to start checking at the end of the 30 minute mark in case you want to avoid potato baskets that are too crispy which may sometimes become hard to chew.
8. Fill with your choice of fillings and the dish is good to go!