Apr 24
Meat & poultry | Tapas bar | Traditional Spanish Recipes
Croquetas de Pollo con cúrcuma – Chicken croquettes with turmeric
Croquettes are the kids’ favourites in every single Spanish house and I bet they are grown ups’ too! It’s such a delicious simple bite. Have them hot or cold or as a tapa with a glass of wine… any time and any way is good for Croquetas.
These ones have a new secret ingredient that is known for its antitumor function, antioxidant, antiartritis, and anti-inflammatory properties. It can also be used to treat malaria, prevent cervical cancer, and may also interfere with the replication of the AIDS virus…
I’m talking about turmeric. My good blogger friend Nathan, posted about turmeric in his post: Turmeric Rice, and I was really curious about it and more than happy to know about all these fantastic medical applications (wikipedia source).
So, I thought that it would be great to start using it in my kitchen! Since it’s full of good reasons it would be foolish not to take advantage of this plant’s root. I bought it in powder and it smelled like chalk, but once used, it gives a nice aroma and flavour to the croquetas.
I used just a little bit this time to get to know the strength that will give to the food and I’m really happy with the result :D.
Recipe
Ingredients for 4 to 6 servings: A whole chicken's breast (It could be either roasted or boiled. Roasted is always better for obvious reasons), 3 table spoons of wheat flour, 2 middle onions, half a litter of milk, some ground nutmeg, half a teaspoon of turmeric powder, olive oil, 1 egg, breadcrumbs and salt.
- Cut the chicken's breast in small pieces. Prepare a big pan with some olive oil and when hot add the onions (peeled and cut in small pieces). Make them sweat at low heat and when transparent add the chicken. Stir and cook for 5 minutes aprox and then add the flour. Let cook while stirring for another 5 minutes and then add the milk little by little while stirring with a wooden spoon. Pour the nutmeg and the turmeric. Stir some more.
- When you get a thick dough that doesn't get stick to the pan's wall, it means that it's done. Taste and add some salt.
- Turn heat off. Place the pan on the kitchen counter and cover with a clean kitchen cloth. When cold, place inside the fridge.
- Once is completely cold (let rest for 2 hours at least). Prepare a pan with olive oil to fry the croquettes. Don't ever let the oil burn.
- Prepare one plate with the beat egg and another with the breadcrumbs.
- Shape the croquettes with your hands, place in the egg and coat in breadcrumbs. Fry and place over kitchen paper to leave there the oil.
- Eat hot or cold... either way they will be delicious :D
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Comments
Yum, croquetas! I haven’t tried them like this but here in Mexico we have something similar. They round and bigger. I love yours, tough.
Glad your enjoying this new spice, it can be used in small amounts in place of saffron or “colorante”, like it can be added to some Potaje’s in order to tinge them yellow, you can make regular yellow rice, and it blends well with spices like cumin, pimenton, bay leaves, black pepper things of that sort. Good to use when you want a yellow tinge. However I noticed that if a lot is used it does have a slightly “bitter taste” so I usually don’t use more than a teaspoon.
Oh and here’s an interesting thing however when diluted in milk or with dairy it doesn’t have a bitter taste at all. Like I sometimes drink at night a teaspoon of ground turmeric diluted in hot milk, with a dash or pepper with honey. It’s suppose to be a good way to drink it for it’s benefits since it doesn’t taste bitter when taken like that. I never thought of using it in croquettes but I’m sure it went real well with the bechamel used to make them YUm I’ll have to try next time :)
However I must warn it tends to tinge/ stain any surface it get’s on yellow, can stain even dishes if not cleaned right after lol. It’s a powerful spice, and dealing with fresh turmeric is even messier lol.l
Sí, sí, me gusta las croquetas! So curcuma is the translation for tumeric? Good to know — if I can remember it! :)
Your photos are really terrific! I can almost taste them.
These croquettes sound very tasty and the turmeric is not only healthy but would add beautiful colour to your dish as well.
They look perfect. I love croquetas and it’s been too long….
i LOVE croquettes but am also looking constantly for good things to make for my toddler. THIS is going in my “file”! the best thing is they can be filled with alot of things. yum.
que ben presentades i quines fotos més nitides!!
Ooh que rico. Just made some croquets 2 weeks ago… I’ve never added turmeric to mine but it sounds like it could really work!
I can not wait to make these! My husband and I have such great memories of our travels there. I am so glad I found your website.
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