Korokke from Palau

                                                                                Receta en Español

Korokke are a kind of croquettes that are usually prepared in Palau, they come from the japanese cuisine and are eaten as snack or starter.

This is the most widespread way to preparing Korokke in Palau, using a vegetable called water spinach.

It is a difficult to find vegetable, but you can use spinachs instead of water spinachs.

Korokke Ingredients:

- 2 tuna cans 113 g.

- 300 grams spinachs.

- Half an onion.

- 4 tablespoon of soy sauce.

- Salt.

- 250 grams flour.

- 2 eggs.

- 2 cups of water.

Sauce Ingredients:

- Vinegar.

- Chive.

- Soy sauce.

- Powdered garlic.

- Powdered onion.

Method:

1- Wash and cut spinachs.

2- Cut onion in little pieces.

3- Put spinachs in a bowl , add tuna and onion, mix well.

4- Add the eggs, mix well.

5- Add soy sauce.

6- Add flour, mix well.

7- Add water, salt and mix well.

8- Take a frying pan, pour some oil and heat it. Once the oil is hot take a spoonful of the dough and pour it into the oil. Fry 4 minutes every side until they are golden.

9- Put korokke on an absorbent paper to get rid of the excess of oil.

10- Now we are going to make the sauce; mix vinager with the same quantity of soy sauce, add chive, salt, powdered garlic and onion.

Mix well (instead of powdered onion I used little pieces of onion, but it is better to use the powder).

This sauce is used to dip in the korokkes.

You can complete the dish adding some white rice.

Palau

Lent Potage

                                                                              Receta en Español

This dish is typical from the Castilian plateau, specially from Ávila.

It is called Lent Potage because it is typical to eat on Lent Fridays, days when meat is not allowed for Catholics.

Although this dish does not have meat, it is still strong and healthy at the same time.

Ingredients (4 people):

-  200 grams chickpeas.
-  200 grams unsalted dried or natural cod.
-  150 grams spinach.
-  2 dl olive oil.
-  4 clove of garlic.
-  9 strands of saffron.
-  4 bread slices.
-  2 eggs.
- 1 teaspoon parsley.
- 1 bay leaf.

Method:

1- Soak chickpeas overnight. 

If you are using salted cod , soak it for at least 2 days, changing water every 6 or 8 hours.

2- Cook chickpeas with salt, 2 liters of water and a bay leaf. I used a pressure cooker.Put on a high heat.  Once the steam starts to come out,  put on a low heat and cook for 1 hour. At the end you can get rid of the bay leaf.

3- Wash and cut some spinach leaves. In order to get rid of the oxalats that are not good for our health, we should cook spinachs in a separate casserole.

Put some water to a boil, then, add spinachs and cook for 2 minutes.

Throw away the water and keep the spinachs.

4- Get rid of the skin and cod bone.

5- Cut the bread slices into little chunks , fry then in some oil and garlic cloves.

6- Use a mortar to crush yolks, garlic cloves, bread chunks, parsley, saffron , add alittle oil.

Crush until you get a paste without lumps.

7- Add spinachs and the paste to the casserole where we have the chickpeas.

Stir well.

8- Cook for 20 minutes in a medium heat.

Sprinkle some egg whites to serve.

My comments to the Recipe

Cod mixed with spinachs is a good  combination, tasty and  healthy.

Ávila

Palong Shak Daal (Spinach Daal)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Recipe in Spanish

Daal o Dal is a word used in Bangladesh or India to name the legumes that have their skin removed. They can be beans, peas or lentils, although the most popular are lentils, it is also a popular dish due to its high nutritional value and low cost.
In India and Bangladesh lentils have different colours; White, green, red, yellow...
We are going to use in this recipe Moong Dal or Mung Dal, which are yellow lentils without skin.

Dishes made with this kind of lentils look like puree and are usually accompanied by white rice.

I found this recipe at this web:

http://zuranazrecipe.com/palong-shak-daaldaal-palongspinach-daal/ Where you can find recipes from Bangladesh, India, Thailand and China.

Ingredients (4 people):

-  200 grams of Moong dal (yellow lentils) or Masoor dal (red lentils).
-  100 grams of spinachs.
-  oil.
-  1 onion.
-  1 dry red chilli.
-  1 teaspoon cumin seeds.

-  1 teaspoon ground ginger.

-  1/2 garlic clove.
-  1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric.

-  1/2 teaspoon ground coriander.

-  1/2 teaspoon ground pepper.

-  Salt.

-  200 grams basmati rice.

Method:

1- Wash and cut into pieces some spinaches. Cook spinachs so that they lose the oxalates that are harmful for our health.
Put some water in a casserole, bring it to a boil , once it reaches boiling point add spinachs, cook them for 2 minutes. After that, take out spinachs from water.

2- These are the lentils I used:

You can cook them in a pressure cooker or in a casserole.
Be careful with the pressure cooker, these lentils produce a lot of foam and this can block the vent pipe.
It is better to cook them in a casserole, besides, you can easily see when the lentils are done.

Put the lentils in a casserole and add 4 cups of water , salt and cook for 20 minutes.

If you cook them in a pressure cooker , use 3 cups of water, salt and
put on a high heat.  Once the steam starts to come out,  put on a low heat and cook for 8 minutes.

3- Now we make garlic and ginger paste. 
Put garlic, ground ginger and some oil in a mortar. Use the pestle to crush and mix everything until you get a paste.

4- Now chop some onion and sauté it in a frying pan together with some chilies.

5- Use the same oil to fry some cumin seeds , then add  the ginger paste and 2 tablespoon of water.
Mix it with coriander and turmeric, sauté for 2 minutes.

6- Add the paste of step 5 to the casserole of the lentils , add spinachs and some water if necessary.
This is how lentils should look like:

7- Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes at medium heat, once the mixture has thicken, put the fire off.

8- Serve hot, sprinkle onion and chilies. accompany by basmati rice.

9- To do basmati rice , wash it three times in cold water.

10- Sauté onion and rice some minutes.

11- Add three times the quantity of rice of water, cover with a lid and put on a high heat until it boils.
Let boil for 5 minutes.
Put on a low heat and cook for 10 more minutes.

Where to buy the Ingredients

I bought these lentils in Madrid, at 'Sabores del Mundo' 

 Dr. Gómez Ulla, metro Manuel Becerra.

There you can find a lot of spices.

* This is a Vegan recipe

Bangladesh