Friday, May 18, 2012

My Grand Aunt’s Potato Moons (บุหลัน -Tweaked Version)



My grand aunt whom I called Khun Yai Kwan was my maternal grandmother’s older sister and she had a lot to do with my interest in cooking. She was from a good, old fashioned family in Chiang-mai and was taught how to read but not to write (bizarre, I know). 

She was in charge of cooking in my grandparents’ household and had to make a shopping list for one of the kitchen’s hands every night. So each night the grand nieces and nephews at school age would take turn to see her with a mission to write down what she dictated. That was how I learned the ingredients of some of the dishes she cooked for us.

These so called Potato Moons are one of my favourites. Her original version would be more complicated than my version below as it requires stuffing the mashed potatoes rather than mixing it with other ingredients.

To serve 2 you’ll need:

2 medium-large potatoes (about 400-450 grams) and 1 carrot, cooked and mashed with salt, pepper and a little bit of butter and leave to cool (no milk please otherwise it will be too wet and disintegrate in the frying pan)

½ size 14 roast chicken or 200 grams cooked chicken meat, skin discarded and chopped finely

½  medium onion, chopped finely

1 tablespoon finely chopped celery(optional)

1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander leaves
1 teaspoon Lee & Perrin’s or Worcester  sauce

1egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

½ cup plain flour to coat

2 cups fresh breadcrumbs

Salt & pepper to taste

Oil for shallow frying

In a bowl, mix mashed potatoes and carrot with chicken and seasoning. Add chopped onion, celery and coriander and fold to combine.  Divide the mixture into 6 portions and form each portion into a ball. Roll them in flour and flatten them (into a moon shape) before dipping in beaten egg and rolling in breadcrumbs. Make sure all the moons are thoroughly coated with crumbs. Rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Fry until golden on both sides. Serve with tomato and Sri Racha Chilli sauces and side green salad.

Note: You can substitute chicken with canned tuna.

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