Red Curry Sweet Potato Croquettes

I was looking through one of the classic vegetarian cookbooks, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison and came across a recipe for Quinoa and Potato Croquettes. The croquettes were infused with Mexican flavors and I was inspired by the concept. I poked around my kitchen and saw that I was all out of quinoa but did have some brown rice and a sweet potato.

I used the same basic method for making my version of these croquettes, adding red curry paste and fish sauce for a Thai-inspired dish. They turned out quite nice with sweet/spicy flavors, a hint of salty sourness from the fish sauce and a little nuttiness from the brown rice. I served them with the Asian Pear Slaw which was a nice counterpoint.

I must warn you, these aren't the easiest to work with. The "batter" is pretty delicate and was particularly hard to flip without breaking them in half. My advice is to keep the croquettes small, and don't flip them before they're ready. I found they were like pancakes, I really screwed up the first two but got the hang of it after that. I refrigerated the rest of the croquettes and they reheated perfectly in the microwave the next day.

For 4 servings:

• 1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato
• 1 cup cooked short grain brown rice
• 1/2 cup mashed extra firm tofu
• 1 tablespoon red curry paste
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped shallots
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

In a bowl, combine the sweet potato and brown rice. Blot the mashed tofu with some paper towels to remove the excess moisture and add it to the potato mixture. Add the curry paste, egg, fish sauce and brown sugar. Taste the mixture and add more curry paste if desired.

In a small skillet, heat the peanut oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the shallot and oil to the bowl containing the rest of the ingredients. Stir thoroughly so that everything is well-combined.

Place the panko in a bowl. Take a heaping 1/4 cup of the croquette batter, gently form it into a round patty and coat in the panko. Repeat with the remaining batter.

In a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom. When the oil is hot, place the croquettes in the skillet in batches, without overcrowding, and cook for 5 minutes per side, adding more oil if needed.