5 Croquette Recipes

I'm busy compiling a complete round-up of all the Can This Recipe Be Saved Contest entries. But before I could do that, I needed to give the recipes that were emailed to me (rather than posted on blogs) a place of their own on the web. So here, in the order in which they were received, are the 5 emailed recipes, followed by a photo when available. Don't they look delicious?!

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Kristine Elliott writes:

I picked up a few things after work and home I came to try to modify your Thai Pumpkin Croquettes. The lentils still allow this to be an earthy sort of autumn like dish with a little sassy red colour to boot!

We really enjoyed making our own additions and wanted to say thanks for a kitchen adventure! We left the sauce the same because it was just so darn good! These babies looked beautiful on a bed of Shanghai Bok Choy and we served with your double mushroom miso soup garnished with a few drops of thai chili sesame oil and some fresh grated (just a pinch) of lime. It was truly deeelish!

Thai Pumpkin Lentil Croquettes

12 ounces green beans, trimmed and sliced
1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/2 C cooked , drained Quinoa (about 1/4C dry)

1 ½ C cooked, drained Red lentils (about 3/4 C dry)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon red curry paste
4 kaffir lime leaves, minced OR 1 tbsp. grated lime zest
1 teaspoon agave nectar OR brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten*
1 tbsp ground walnuts – or crushed, depending on your need to take out your aggressive impulses in the kitchen
1/3 C Bean Sprouts, coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp hijiki (soaked in some hot water for about 10 minutes whilst you furiously crush walnuts and wash your bean sprouts!) – This part I think really helps the flavour develop, and is an especially nice and cruelty free addition from the sea considering as you mention the original recipe was a Thai Fish Croquettes recipe

Mash with a potato masher, or a fork, the lentils and quinoa together, you want to leave some consistency here, so best to not use the food processor for this part.

Place the green beans and basil into a food processor and pulse to chop coarsely (do not puree!) If you have a small processor, you may have to do this in batches. Pour into a bowl and add all remaining ingredients. Stir well for about 3 minutes, to allow gluten to develop. Set aside while you preheat the oven to 425F.

Spray a non-stick baking sheet with oil. Take a heaping tablespoon of the batter and form it into a patty about 1 1/2-inches (4 cm) across and 1/2-inch (1.25 cm) thick. Place it on the baking sheet and repeat with the rest of the batter. It should make about 30 croquettes.

Bake for 20 minutes, and then turn over and bake until browned, about 15-20 minutes. Serve warm with dipping sauce.

*You can make a gluten-free batch of these using 2 tablespoons of cornstarch instead of gluten. Skip the stirring for three minutes, and form the batter into croquettes by dropping by tablespoons onto the baking sheet and smoothing into patties with your fingers.

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Jule J. (rusvaplauke) writes:

I tried your recipe by substituting the pumpkin with some homemade spinach-sun dried tomato hummus. Originally, it was a recipe by Lolo with my slight alterations (spinach instead of kale, added some garlic, etc.)

Actually, I can't really tell a lot about these croquettes as my family ate most of them - my father loved them! (By the way, they're not even vegetarians, let alone vegans, ha!) However, what I can tell from the several small ones I managed to grab for myself is that they were rather good. Just enough spiciness and the flavors of the basil and curry and sun-dried tomatoes are given a wonderful opportunity to stand out. I'm quite biased, though, because I, erm, HATE green beans. So this was quite a challenge for me.


Spinach-Sun Dried Tomato Hummus Croquettes by Jule

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Shvetha Sankaran writes:

I made the croquettes with peanuts and green papaya, the inspiration being the lip-smacking green papaya salad served in Thai restaurants.

Green Papaya Peanut Croquettes

1/2 cup raw peanuts
1/2 cup finely minced green papaya
12 ounces green beans, trimmed and sliced

1 cup fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 clove garlic
4 minced green chillies

4 kaffir lime leaves, minced OR 1 tbsp. grated lime zest (I used lemon zest.)

1 teaspoon agave nectar OR brown sugar (I used brown sugar.)

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

Soak the peanuts in water for 30 minutes.

Cook the beans till they are soft but not mushy (I did this in the microwave). Marinate the minced papaya in 2 tablespoons of lemon juice for 15-20 minutes.

Grind together everything except the minced papaya, onion and chillies. Add these to the ground mixture.

Shape it into patties and bake for 30-40 minutes turning once in between.

Hope you get a chance to give this a try.

Green Papaya Peanut Croquettes by Shvetha

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Vineet Aggarwal eloquently puts into words an idea that I think a lot of us had:

At the risk of sounding dorky, it felt really cool to make this recipe tonight knowing that I was in a contest with people who were all over the country (and perhaps world)! . . . It turned out quite tasty (the texture was great), so thanks for the idea/inspiration. Anyhow, here it is:

Thai "Fish" Croquettes

Croquette Ingredients:

12 ounces green beans, trimmed and sliced
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 recipe "vegan fish" (see below)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon red curry paste
4 kaffir lime leaves, minced OR 1 tbsp. grated lime zest
1 teaspoon agave nectar OR brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten*

Vegan Fish Ingredients:

1 cup almonds
2 cups soaked and cooked (or canned chickpeas), drained and rinsed
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water (can use the chickpea water)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons olive oil
4 dried black Chinese mushrooms, blended to a powder (I used a Magic Bullet).

Vegan Fish Instructions:

Rinse the almonds, place them in a bowl, cover with water, and let them soak overnight in order to soften. Once this is completed, rinse and drain them. Add the almonds and the rest of the "Vegan Fish" ingredients to a food processor. Blend until well mixed and somewhat chunky/flaky like tuna (not smooth). (Side note: In case you were wondering, I was hoping the dried mushrooms would give this a "fishy" or "seafoody" flavor -- I can't really tell if it did -- I might do something different with this next time, and/or make it an optional step, because some people might not like that flavor anyway). Set this aside and proceed with the croquette instructions below.

Croquette Instructions:

Place the green beans and basil into a food processor and pulse to chop coarsely (do not puree!) If you have a small processor, you may have to do this in batches. Pour into a bowl, add the "Vegan Fish" mixture from above, and the remaining croquet ingredients. Stir well for about 3 minutes, to allow gluten to develop. Set aside while you preheat the oven to 425F.

Spray a non-stick baking sheet with oil. Take a heaping tablespoon of the batter and form it into a patty about 1 1/2-inches (4 cm) across and 1/2-inch (1.25 cm) thick. Place it on the baking sheet and repeat with the rest of the batter. It should make about 30 croquettes.

Bake for 20 minutes, and then turn over and bake until browned, about 15-20 minutes. Serve warm with dipping sauce, below.

*You can make a gluten-free batch of these using 2 tablespoons of cornstarch instead of gluten. Skip the stirring for three minutes, and form the batter into croquettes by dropping by tablespoons onto the baking sheet and smoothing into patties with your fingers.


Thai "Fish" Croquettes by Vineet

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Dominique Nabholz writes:

We thought they were really good! Make sure you simmer the tempeh if you make them, it will really absorb the lime, basil, and curry paste flavors. (Of course, my husband and I are a sucker for low-cal vegan Asian food!)

Thai Tempeh Croquettes

Ingredients:
12 ounces green beans, trimmed and sliced
1 cup fresh basil leaves
12 ounces tempeh (1.5 packages)
juice of 1 lime
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1.5 tablespoons red curry paste
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
1 teaspoon agave nectar
purified water
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
Optional Garnishes:
shredded carrots and scallions

Directions:
1. Chop tempeh into chunks and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, chop the green beans and basil in the food processor.

3. Dump the beans and basil into a big bowl.

4. Add the drained tempeh to the food processor. Pulse a few times (10?) then add all of the liquid ingredients, curry paste and flax seed. Pulse until a relatively smooth paste is formed. Add water by the teaspoon if needed.

5. Add the tempeh mixture to the bean/basil mixture.

6. Refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight (allows the spices to absorb [or marinate] into the tempeh)

7. Preheat oven to 425F. Remove mix from refrigerator.

8. Spray a non-stick sheet with oil and bake 20 minutes; flip; then bake until browned, appx. another 15-20 minutes.

9. Garnish and serve with dipping sauce.

NOTES:
I used your dipping sauce without any changes.
I didn't have any Vital Wheat Gluten on hand (oops!), so I omitted it. Two croquettes started to fall apart when I first flipped them, so if I had some I'd probably use it next time.


Thai Tempeh Croquettes by Dominique

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free