Corn croquettes with ajard

(Dinner! Photo courtesy of Olga Barmina)

Ingredients:

1 can (340g) corn
1 tsp baking soda
250 ml flour
40 ml soy sauce
100 ml water
5 kaffir lime leaves
5 cloves garlic

100 ml vinegar
100 ml palm sugar
5 shallot
70 g cucumber
20 ml coriander seeds
1 stalk coriander
2 chillies

1. Combine vinegar and palm sugar and mix until sugar is thoroughly dissolved.
2. Finely chop shallots, chilli and stalk of coriander.
3. Thinly slice and quarter the cucumber.
4. Crush coriander seeds.
5. Combine all ingredients and place aside while you prepare the tod mun.

1. Crush and finely chop garlic and place it in a wok with plenty of oil for deep-frying.  Do not heat yet.
2. Combine flour and baking soda.
3. Add water and soy sauce and mix to get a thick paste.
4. Chop chillies and kaffir lime leaves very fine, then add to paste.
5. Thoroughly drain corn and add to flour mixture.
6. Mix thoroughly.
7. Heat up oil in wok and fry garlic until golden.
8. Remove garlic from oil and set aside.  The heat should be hot, but not at full temperature.  4/6 on an electric stove is good.
9. Using two spoons, form paddies with the batter.
10. Deep-fry three at a time until done.
11. Remove from oil and place on paper-towels to absorb excess oil.
12. Repeat steps 9 to 11 until all the batter is finished.
13. Serve with the ajard you set aside and rice.

What to do with the garlic?  Garlic makes a nice addition to lots of dishes, sprinkled on top.  I often fry up a large batch of deep-fried garlic (about 2 heads) and within a couple weeks, it’s gone.  It’s especially good for noodle soups (think instant noodles on a lazy day!) and salads.  However, if you aren’t such a huge fan of garlic, or if you’d just like to use it straight away, you could make a cold noodle salad to go with the Tod Mun.