Croquetas cubanas (Cuban croquettes)

In the greater Antilles, croquettes have become an important element of culinary culture. This is because they are always very adaptable to the ingredients available during preparation. In addition, they can be part of all our meals: whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Next, we leave you the recipe for Cuban croquettes with ham, fish or chicken, depending on what appears in the market.

To begin, we must make a béchamel sauce which will be the basic ingredient of our croquettes.
How to make béchamel sauce for homemade croquettes?


Toast the flour for the béchamel sauce: Put the oil to heat over low heat, just enough to add the flour to the pan and, with a wooden spoon, stir well until you can see that it is became mushy. It is important to stir regularly for 3 or 4 minutes so that the flour is well toasted and the croquettes do not taste like raw flour.

We make the béchamel: still over low heat, add the milk little by little; constantly stirring the dough until it is cooked and thick. Then add the nutmeg, a little salt and the chosen chopped or ground ingredient; either raw or smoked ham, boiled fish or chicken.

You can add a tablespoon of cooking wine, lime juice or vinegar, chopped onion, chives or garlic, butter, ground pepper, parsley, spinach or other ingredients and spices of your choice.

Let the dough cook in the pan, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough.
Cool the croquette dough: Once the mixture has thickened, pour it into a bowl and let it cool out of the refrigerator for about an hour. Then put it in the fridge for at least another hour. This until the dough cools completely and is very thick.

We make the homemade croquettes: the eggs are beaten separately. Once the dough is cold, very carefully, shape and mold the croquettes the size of a spoon more or less. You can do this with your very clean hands or with two spoons.

Finally, dip them in the beaten egg and breadcrumbs to coat the croquettes well.

Put them on a large plate, and when they are all breaded, store them in the refrigerator for another hour.

We fry the croquettes: finally they will be fried in plenty of hot oil which covers them completely. Turn them over and be careful as they can burn very quickly. When they turn golden, remove them and let them drain on absorbent paper.

The kibble is now ready to magically disappear. They can be accompanied by a hot sauce, tartar sauce or simply ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise, or even honey.

To be honest, I didn't have the necessary ingredients in sufficient quantities to make these croquettes. On the other hand, our neighbor offered me some like this this morning, which I have the pleasure of tasting right now with a small glass of rum and lemon.
Good Sunday.