Croquettes are small cylindrical or round cutlets, an important difference of which is the obligatory rusk or potato breading. Depending on the main ingredient used for cooking, they can be served as a side dish, as a snack, or even as a fast food.
Lentil croquettes prepared according to the proposed variant look a little dry, but the stew of juicy vegetables complements them so perfectly that as a result this duet looks very harmonious. The dish turns out to be very satisfying and can be served as a full dinner or lunch.
The zest of this dish is the delicate aroma and taste, which gives a stunning set of spices garam masala. It is better to cook it at home, since the result largely depends on the spices correctly selected in its composition. As a rule, they are the same in each set, but two or three additional ingredients can drastically change the overall taste and sometimes not for the better (our favorite combination in the final part recipe).
Such lentil croquettes with vegetable stew will diversify the menu of some vegetarians, and if in preparation use not sour cream, but products similar to it, then the menu of everyone else, as well as vegans and fasting of people.
Ingredients:
For croquettes:
Lentils - 200 g
Carrots - 50 g
Onions - 50 g
Curry - 0.33 tsp l.
Bread crumbs - 4 tbsp. l.
Olive oil - 1 tsp l.
For the stew:
Eggplant - 100 g
Onions - 50 g
Carrots - 50 g
Apple - 1 pc.
Cucumber - 250 g
Bulgarian pepper - 100 g
Canned corn - 240 g
Sour cream - 5 tbsp. l.
Garam masala - 0.33 tsp l.
Olive oil - 1 tbsp. l.
Preparation:
Step 1: Prepare ingredients. For lentils that do not require pre-soaking and with a short cooking time, it is enough to pour boiling water over and stand for at least 1 hour. Boil legumes of those varieties that require lengthy preparation until cooked. In both cases, the beans must be pre-rinsed.
Step 2: Drain the water in which the lentils were boiled or soaked. Pass the beans, onions and carrots through a meat grinder twice. Add the curry mixture to the mixture and mix thoroughly. You can cook minced meat using a blender.
Step 3: Form croquettes into the desired shape, but not larger than two walnuts. Roll them in bread crumbs.
Step 4: Put the blanks on a frying sheet covered with parchment. Sprinkle with olive oil or any vegetable oil on hand.
Step 5: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Bake croquettes for 25-30 minutes until browning. If desired, you can deep-fat them and place them on a napkin or paper towel immediately after frying to drain off any remaining fat.
Step 6: Carrots and bell peppers, after removing the seeds from it, chop into small cubes. Dice the onion slightly larger than the previous vegetables. Peel the eggplant and arrange in cubes larger than the onion. Cut the cucumber even coarser (peel beforehand in case of yellowed peel) and the apple peeled and cored.
Step 7: Put the slices in a preheated pan with olive oil (any vegetable oil). Fry for 2 minutes, stirring, at high heat. Reduce heat to medium, simmer vegetables with lid closed for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 8: Drain the brine from the canned corn. Add it, sour cream and garam masala spice mixture to vegetables, mix. Continue braising with the lid closed until the eggplant is fully cooked, not forgetting to stir. The liquid released during extinguishing can be poured over croquettes so that they are not dry. But also, if desired, the stew can be thickened by adding the remnants of the croquettes breadcrumbs. Add them and simmer with the lid open, stirring to distribute the crackers throughout the stew.
Step 9: Place stews and croquettes on common meals or serve in portions, garnished with herbs. Additionally, you can serve sliced juicy greens and fresh tomatoes.
And now how to prepare our favorite set of garam masala. Fry each spice separately until slightly browning in a dry frying pan: black peppercorns, coriander, cumin, cardamom, ground cinnamon (all 1 tbsp. l.), cloves (6 buds), ground nutmeg (0.5 tsp. l.). It is very important not to burn them. Saffron (0.25 tsp. l.) you do not need to fry and it is better to use whole stigmas. Grind all ingredients at the same time in a coffee grinder into a homogeneous mixture. Store in a closed container in a cool, dark place for up to 2 months.
Bon appetit and may it be delicious!
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