Boulet Pomdete ak Bef

Okay a literal translation of that is "pellets of potatoes with beef" which does not sound at all appetizing. What they are actually is kind of like beef-stuffed mashed potato balls.  Our Kreyol teacher Gessie says this is something Haitians will have for a special occasion, like Christmas.  The average (poor) Haitian has meat only once or twice a year, the rest of the time they rock the beans and rice.  The author of this cookbook (A Taste of Haiti) married into a Haitian family and has collected these recipes from her in-laws.  There is a little bit of everything here, including things I would never ever eat.  But some of the recipes are definitely doable.  This one sounded like it would take a while to make, and it did, but it was fun, and it had pretty standard ingredients, except for the pikliz, which I posted separately.  Emma made it with me and we had fun wondering how Haitian women would make it differently, since their ovens and utensils are all different than ours.

Boulet Pomdete ak Bef
Beef filling:
1 pound ground beef
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-3 tbsp pikliz vinegar (see previous post)
1 tbsp pikliz vegetables
1 tsp minced parsley
1 shallot, minced
1/2 onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced

Potato mix:
6 large potatoes
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 egg, beaten (I used 2)
1 cup bread crumbs
2 cups vegetable oil

Mix all beef filling ingredients in a pot with 1/4 cup water and cook over low heat until water fully evaporates while using a fork to break up the beef (I used a skillet and cooked over med-high).  Let cool. 

Peel, cut, and boil the potatoes in salted water.  Drain water; mix with the milk, mash and let cool.  (Here comes the fun part)  Take a handful of the potatoes and place in the palm of your hand.  Flatten with the fingers of your other hand and add 1 tbsp of the beef filling in the middle of the potatoes.  Cover the meat with the potatoes, forming a ball.  Form small or large balls as desired (I could only seem to make mine baseball-sized).  Dip into flour, egg, and then in the breadcrumbs.  Heat oil in frying pan.  Place balls in the hot oil and fry on each side until golden brown.  Serve with additional pikliz if desired (we didn't).

We had this with one of those bag salads for a side dish.  This recipe is actually in the "appetizers" section of the cookbook, but I can't imagine doing this much work just for an appetizer and then still having to make a main meal.  But if it's only for special occasions, then maybe.  Nathan only ate the beef filling out of his, but the rest of us ate them all.  Very hearty and filling.  Since mine were so big, I only got 9 "pellets" out of this recipe.  But we had 3 leftover after we all had all we wanted.  I thought they tasted very good, but I have never eaten anything like that in Haiti so I don't know if it tasted authentically Haitian or not.  But I felt pretty Haitian while I was making it...