There was a little discussion on G+ around whether Asian meant south or east Asian. Gerlinde's were apparently east Asian inspired. I know little about east Asian food, but I am practically a connoisseur of south Asian, and so, my dish was south Asian in orientation.
I am also fascinated by Nordiscandiwegian food.
Here, Indo-Nordic fusion?
I approached the dish as both Nordic and Indian ...
The shrimp cakes are simple.
Grab a bowl, drop in some shrimp, match the volume with shredded or grated sweet potato and then add some flavours: coriander, cumin, turmeric, asafoetida, chilli, chives and lime juice. Crack in an egg.
Now, toss in some starch. I used manioc flour. Does it look okay? Is it almost a batter? No? Crack in another egg and some more starch ... now we have something approaching a batter!
Don't worry if you overdo this. We'll be spooning out the mixture and dropping into a frying pan, so any excess will drop off.
The soup? Again, simple.
Chop up some roots. I used carrot, swede and potato. Pre-boil. Steam a halved pak choi over.
Soften an onion and some garlic in a skillet with butter. I poured in some Noilly Prat for that certain je ne sait quoi and it worked. Toss in the roots, add some stock and some cream. Pinch of saffron if you like ... I did.
So, root soup ready, get a skillet on nice and hot with a high smoke point fat: goose fat, for me.
Drop in spoons of the shrimp mixture and cook on for a couple of minutes, then flip.
Put the dish together ...
Root soup and pak choi in a bowl, bhajis over. Superfluous green as garnish completes.
