Romeritos

This dish is being prepared for the family's Christmas Eve dinner.  Adriana has recruited her son, Nery, and daughter, Wendy, to help.

Nery begins preparing the romeritos by cutting dried shrimp into small pieces before putting  them into a spice grinder to turn them into a powder.

Wendy, with her daughter Lucy watching, is preparing the egg batter into which the powdered shrimp will be mixed.

Adriana spoons the shrimp batter into vegetable oil to make the patties.

Above right are the boiled romeritos which give this dish its name.  This herb looks similar to rosemary and is indigenous to México and parts of the US southwest.  I think it tastes a bit like spinach.

The sauce is a mole which Adriana usually makes from scratch, but today she is pressed for time, so she is using a prepared one, the old faithful standby -- Doña Maria's.

Adriana is preparing mushrooms which will go into the bacalao which she is making at the same time. Wendy is pealing and quartering boiled new potatoes for both the bacalao and romeritos.

Nery is stirring the final pot of shrimp patties, romeritos, potatoes and mole sauce. The pot will be returned to the stove for a final re-heating before I get the first taste.

A personal note:

I don't much care for the shrimp patties, so in my kitchen I made a variation on this dish by using salmon croquettes in place of the shrimp+egg batter.  I liked it much better.  I think crab cakes would also work well.