Hello friends! Have you ever prepared tuna croquettes? Well, here I will leave you an easy recipe to prepare a delicious snak that may be serve as an appetizer during these holidays. And you will say: tuna croquettes? it does not sound anything like Christmas time. That is the best part, your guests will be surprised and those who are not surprised will be equally pleased, because they are delicious.

To prepare them you will need:
500g of tuna (can be canned)
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 big onion
4 cloves of peeled garlic
Milk or milk cream
Butter or margarine
Salt, oregano, nutmeg and parsley
Bread crumbs
2 eggs
Oil

And parmesan cheese. This one is optional, which is why I set it apart from the others.

Utensils:
Large frying pan, large boll, wooden spoon, paila or deep frying pan.

Now I will tell you what to do with all of that:
First you have to chop the vegetables and this can be very fun if you cook with family or friends. The onion and the peppers should be chopped into very small pieces, they can be done in the food processor, but it is always better to do it by hand because the vegetables

preserve better their humidity and flavor in this way. In addition, this activity is often liked by children and is an excellent way to include them in the process and teach them about cooking and teamwork. When I was a girl, this was one of my favorite parts. When you are a child and you are given a responsibility like cutting vegetables, it is something special and you always remember it.

When the vegetables are ready, we move to the pan. It is important that it is very hot before pouring the oil because if we put it before, the oil will burn and that will change not only the taste of our food, but also the color, and instead of having beautiful golden croquettes, they could end up being brown.

Next. Tuna, peppers, onion and garlic are frying. Salt and oregano is on your taste. This should be simmering until it dries and the onion acquires a light golden color. The cooking time varies, but this will not take more than 20 min. When cooked, proceed to reserve it, because for the next step of our recipe, we need the tuna to be cold.

The following is the bechamel, which is a cream that is made with milk or milk cream failing. Here we will need the paila or deep pan and the wooden spoon to remove. The margarine melts in the pan. Once melted, add milk, a pinch of salt and some nutmeg. It is very important to stir continuously so that it thickens evenly. As soon as it boils, that is, when large bubbles start to appear on the surface of our cream, it will be time to turn it off and let it rest, because we will also need it cold.

When we have both mixtures cold or at room temperature, we put them together in a big boll.

We will mix them with our hand, because we have to feel the consistency of the mixture. It should look like a dough, so we'll be adding bread crumbs as we go feeling that we need it to be solid enough to make little balls. It is in this step that we will add the parsley. We do it at this point because the parsley is a delicate plant and the heat could take away its freshness, which is its great contribution to this dish.

One thing I like very much is preparing the dough the day before frying the croquettes, because in addition to being a long process, this mixture needs rest to stabilize. With the rest, the ingredients release much more flavor and the texture is softer.

Once we have the mixture ready, we can start to assemble the croquettes. And we started putting a bit of breadcrumbs with oregano and Parmesan cheese on a plate (I repeat, this is optional), I like it because it gives it that cheesse and crunchy point that always falls well. In another dish, we break the eggs and stir them. This will be our overflowing. What the crocante will give to our croquettes.

This part can be tedious if you do it alone, because it is very repetitive. It consists of assembling a ball of small dough with your hands, pass it through bread crumbs, then egg and again bread crumbs. As I say, it can be tedious, but if you do it with family it results in a beautiful experience where everyone can be part of the armed system and while one makes small balls, another one embers them and another one passes them through eggs.

The last thing is to fry them and this must be done by an adult.

They should not be left to cook so much, just to brown them on the outside, as it is important to remember that the tuna and all the ingredients are already cooked. On the outside they will be golden and pretty, inside they will have all the red and green peppers and parsley.

They can be served alone or with a cream that accompanies them, a tartar cream for example. The truth is that whoever eats them will love them, whether or not they were included in the preparation process. It is a meal with a lot of heat from home and has that Plus that is the family integration through something as primal as what is the kitchen, the food that is the heart of the home.

Important things:
Always heat the pan before putting the oil.
Never stop stirring the bechamel while it is on the fire
Take care of the salt spot
Eat with pleasure and cook with love.