Irish Colcannon balls

Colcannon is a popular Irish dish typically made with potatoes and cabbage. I'm not certain why but some say it is eaten around Halloween and can be used to predict marriage- this tradition is really beyond me. But I do know that it more resembles mashed potatoes with bits of cabbage, as well as some other herbs and spices folded in. I used a version of a traditional Colcannon recipe to make my own healthy appi-teaser balls.

Before I go any further, I did a bit of research and found some answers to this interesting tradition. People would hide charms or rings or thimbles in the green speckled Colcannon dishes on Halloween. When an unmarried lady found the prize in her dish she would then put the mashed Colcannon with the prize into a sock and hang it on her door handle. The first man to enter her house was the future husband. What a way to live..."kids it all started with the mashed Colcannon on Halloween....and that's how I met your mother ;) 

Oh and there's a Colcannon song I found that musicians have actually posted videos of on youtube...

Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream? 
 With the greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream. 
Did you ever make a hole on top to hold the melting flake? 
Of the creamy, flavoured butter that your mother used to make?

The chorus:
Yes you did, so you did, so did he and so did I.
And the more I think about it sure the nearer I'm to cry. Oh, wasn't it the happy days when troubles we had not, And our mothers made Colcannon in the little skillet pot.


How fun! Next Halloween I'm totally going to do this. But, in the meantime I'll continue to make this  traditional Irish dish into balls...perhaps I'll call them the nontraditional Irish balls. 

The basic differences between the traditional and the nontraditional (my recipe) are the substitution of white potatoes for sweet potatoes, the addition of extra spinach/kale, and baking the mash into balls for a pop-able snack time treat. I'm sure there are many many recipes using different spices and herbs and varying amounts of butter, cream, and what have yous, but I won't get into all that. I modified a recipe from fatfreevegan.com and have added a link to the original recipe. http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2009/03/colcannon-puffs.html

If you decide to open the link and look at this recipe, the only difference is I used sweet potatoes instead of potatoes, used spinach instead of kale, and used way more spinach than recommended to make greener in terms of color and in health. Enjoy! 
(Exit stage right to a sweet melody of the Colcannon song playing in the background)