Recipe: Japanese potato korokkes! Basically Japanese style croquettes. It involves deep frying but easy and worth 20 min of cooking!

Number of steps:  9
Time taken: 20-30 min 
Approx. 170kcal per korokke 

About This Dish:
Japanese korokkes are said to have a great influence from French croquettes. French croquettes are known to have cream inside, but original Japanese croquettes have potato and ground beef inside. My first impression was "Wow, it's deep frying stuffed potato and meat, it must be so hard". After trying it out few nights ago, I realized that it was VERY easy to make, even though it involves deep frying. 

Many Japanese families get creative with their korokkes. Though the original korokke is known to be potato with ground beef, some make it with cream + bits of crab, yakisoba, veggies, tofu, cheese, the list goes on. This recipe is the original potato and ground beef filling! Additionally, there are korokke stands in Japan selling these goodies. I used to get 1 korokke after school and eat it in the winter while walking to the station. If serving at home, eat it with rice and cabbage with katsu sauce! Yum! 

What You Need:
(Makes 8 korokkes; suggested 2 korokkes per serving)

• 2 large potatoes
• 100g (1/4 lb) ground beef or less *Keep in mind that the potato is the leading actor here! 
• 1 small onion 
• 1 tbsp of milk
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Batter

• Breadcrumbs/Panko (start off with half a bowl) 
• All purpose flour (start of with half a bowl) 
• 1 egg (add more if you run out)
• Oil (for deep frying)

Here is a glance of all your ingredients! 

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3. Add the meat in the skillet to cook. Add soy sauce, salt and pepper according to your taste.

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5. Add the meat/onion from the skillet into the bowl with mashed potatoes and mix. Add the milk here too.

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7.2. The korokkes all battered up should look like this :)

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1. Wash the potatoes well, then cut them in half, place on a microwave safe plate, place saran wrap loosely on it and place it in the microwave for 8 minutes or until soft. You can check by sticking a stick into it. If it goes in smoothly, it is done.

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4. Check if the potatoes are done by simply sticking a stick into it. If it goes in without problem till the end, you're all set.

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6. Using your hands, shape the korokkes! I made mine the size of my palm, but the size is all up to you of course.

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8. Heat up the oil for deep frying in a pan. We want the oil to be hot, hot, hot, but be careful and do not burn yourself! You can simply check if the oil is hot enough by throwing in some of the panko. If you hear it frying, it should be hot enough. Throw in the korokkes, then deep fry each side for 20 seconds each, that's approximately 40 seconds per korokke! 

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2. While the potatoes are in the microwave, you can start preparing the meat and onions. Heat a skillet with oil and heat the onions until they get clear. 

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4.2. Mash the potatoes! 

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7. Prepare your batter station. Dip the korokkes in this order: flour, then the egg, then the panko/breadcrumbs.

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9. Deep fry each korokke and place onto a paper kitchen towel to soak up the oil. You can store these delicious things in saran wrap and toss it in the freezer too. 

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