I was a latchkey kid. If you've never heard this term, it's what we called kids who came home to an empty house after school. The reality was, we were immigrants settled in King of Prussia, PA, and my parents had to work.
So, every afternoon, post trudging home from school, I would let myself and my younger brother into our locked and empty home. I have to gulp back emotions a touch as I write this. It was fine back then — almost fun to have a house to yourself. But, now I think about how incredibly lonely it was to have no snack and nobody to tell you ... well, anything.
Tater tots got me through many afternoons. Easy and always comforting, I'd grab a bunch from the freezer and cook them up for me and my brother. They were especially delicious when they came with the Hungry Man frozen dinner that my mom only allowed us to have on Fridays. She always had Indian meals for dinner and worked hard to make sure we ate healthy, but for post-school snacks, we were usually on our own.
This is likely why I worked so incredibly hard to create a career where I could be there for my girls when they came home AND get them something fun and warm to snack on before heading to their rooms to do homework. And, might I add ... my girls often complained that they would have loved some afternoons on their own away from their pushy mom. I guess as parents, we can never win!
One thing I learned about making tots through my research is that the potato consistency does matter. For the best results, parboil your potato. It should be just shy of totally soft and mushy. While we wanted that really soft consistency for my Aloo ki Tikki recipe, for tater tots, we want the potato to be slightly harder. So, boil it 10 minutes instead of 15.
And, while with the Tikki recipe, I mashed the potato for a softer, fluffier consistency, for a tater tot, you want to grate the potato with a box grater. I also saw recipes that added a tablespoon of flour for binding. I tried adding chickpea flour in one batch, but in the end did not feel like any flour was needed. The potato still binds without the flour, though if you want to give it a try, add 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of any flour (all-purpose, quinoa, chickpea, etc).
The recipe below uses our chaat masala spice blend, but feel free to sub it with the same amount of ground black pepper, which is simple and gives you a more classic tater tot taste profile. I tell you, I am a connoisseur of tater tots.
xoxo Anupy
Makes: 16 tots
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