I was in Kuala Lumpur, Cristina's guest who runs a very, very, very nice guesthouse, when suddenly:
- "Do you like to cook?"
- “Yes! I love it ”- And I think I love it? I love to eat, but to cook?
- “Then tomorrow we have dinner at my house, I cook Nasi Goreng with lemongrass and you something Spanish”
And I think Something Spanish? OK. I know an easy one… - “Bieeen! I'm going to make you a potato omelette ”-
- “Nooo! Tortilla no, I already ate it many times ”
Joer Think fast! - “Croquettes! I will prepare croquettes! ”-
Lety croquettes? Seriously?? But they never come out! The béchamel is always super liquid and once I had to use it as a pasta sauce, as a good Italian, not to throw it away! Puff ... let's see how I get!
An Australian newcomer from Perth joins us at international dinner. The poor woman has a jet lag that you freak out and it shows, but she can't say no to Cristina. So the 3 of us crossed Kuala Lumpur by car and headed to Cristina's neighborhood, just outside the Malaysian capital. The supermarket is a pass: Mercadona type, but the beast. Not in size but by quantity of products: there is everything, and that is that Malaysia is increasingly international, it shows even on the shelves of food stores.
We have a shopping list, like every chef who respects himself ... for the croquettes I need:
- Milk
- Flour
- Eggs
- Bread crumbs
- Oil
- Chicken
- Serrano ham
Good: milk, eggs, chicken and oil are already in the cart. Cris tells me he already has breadcrumbs and flour at home. We went to the charcuterie area and ... surprise: Cris tells me the happy ham, which is nothing but sausage. Well no Cris, no ... that's not serrano ham.
We start well, I think, although good, chicken croquettes are also rich. The Australian catches some Italian ravioli that cost a kidney, mushrooms and Australian wine (apparently it has to be very good, as I do not differentiate a Rioja from a Don Simón I trust). And Cris already has all the ingredients for her Malay rice with an unpronounceable name.
We are 3 in the kitchen more lively than Arguiñano at a skewer fair: the Australian with its mushroom sauce, Cris preparing her rice (which has lemongrass and a prawn paste that smells like fart) and I praying for the bechamel to be good. Prayers attended: I have never never looked so good, thick and tasty, Rober would be proud of me. I put my dough in the fridge and we are going to take the Australian wine that was good, but as I do not understand ...
* Note: if you invite me to a wine do not spend the money in good bottles, seriously, a summer red wine is perfect *.
After a while we return to finish dinner. I take the dough out of the fridge and prepare to shape the cutest croquettes in Malaysia.
- "Cris, can you give me bread like that?"
- "Yes, look, take it, it's in the first closet"
I go, I take it, I also take the grater and start to give it what I hit you, until ... "What the hell is this?" Ants! The bread was full of ants: unusable. You screw me up! And now how do I make croquettes if I have a kilo of dough, it's 8 in the afternoon, everything is closed and there's nothing here to grate ?!
"Don't worry," Cris tells me, "I have more bread."
Pfiu: saved! Wait, but what is this? The hostess passes me some corn cakes, of those used to make quesadillas. "Take bread!" Do you take bread? And what am I supposed to do with that?
Faced with difficulties, the human being draws incredibly awkward or great ideas ... and when the awkwardness blends with genius amazing things are born. For example, croquettes battered in grilled and grated corn cakes. Don't see how rich the XD batter came out
Arguiñano, if you read me, do not dare to reproduce my Malay croquettes… they are patented ®.
