TJ

I have a serious love for potatoes – mashed potatoes, french fries, baked potatoes, potato chips, tater tots, hash browns, etc. So it’s no surprise that korokke (Japanese croquette) falls in my top five favorite dishes of all time. But learning to make this dish has been a nightmare and it’s all due to not following one simple step. Remember, I’m not great in the kitchen which means I generally need to follow every step. But every once in a while I get lazy. After numerous attempts, I realized why I kept failing. The thing is making korokke is actually quite simple. You need time, but it’s simple. But because I didn’t follow one step, which I’ll get to later, I managed to screw it up multiple times. If you get it right though, it’s some serious yummy goodness.

If you don’t know what korokke is, it’s similar to the French croquette. It was introduced to the Japanese by the French in the late 1800s. Just like the French croquette, the korokke uses mashed potatoes, and can include meat, vegetables, etc. and is coated with panko breadcrumbs and fried. In Japan, they’re sold in grocery stores, convenient stores, and can also be ordered in restaurants as a main or side dish.

When I make korokke at home, I prefer to include meat. I use potatoes, onions, and ground beef. The recipe I use, calls for one pound of potatoes, half an onion, and 1/2 pound of ground beef. I first start with making the mashed potatoes. To make the mashing part easy, I cut the potatoes into smaller pieces.  Once the potatoes are done, I mash them up real well and make sure there aren’t any lumps. I use a sauce pan that I can both boil the potatoes and mash the potatoes in. The less I have to wash the better, right?

With the potatoes all mashed up, it’s time to cook the onions and ground beef. I start with the onions first. Once they become clear I add the ground beef. It’s good to add salt and pepper while cooking just the onions and when cooking the onion/ground beef mix to give it some flavor. When the ground beef is cooked, I directly add the mixture into the sauce pan that has the mash potatoes and stir well.  And again I add salt and pepper since there’s not much flavor.

Next is forming the korokke. Something to keep in mind is that everyone has a different threshold on handling something that’s hot. For whatever reason, I can handle stuff that’s piping hot. But if you have a low threshold, definitely wait for a few little minutes. I form them into about nine patties and put them directly onto a plate. Now the next step is crucial – refrigerate the patties! I have skipped this step on numerous occasions and it has resulted in not so much potato goodness. You must refrigerate the patties for a minimum of an hour. If you skip this step your breading will fall off when you fry them. It’s not good!

Once the patties have rested in the fridge for an hour it’s time to coat the patties. You’ll need all purpose flour, eggs, and panko (Japanese breadcrumbs). Panko is lighter/airier in texture and due to that lighter texture it doesn’t absorb the oil as much as regular breadcrumbs. You can buy panko breadcrumbs at most grocery stores. You don’t need to use the Asian-brand panko. I’ve been using the Progresso Panko and it works great! To coat the patties, you need to coat it with flour, then egg, then panko. Now it’s time to fry them! A good way to tell if the oil is ready is to sprinkle some panko into the oil. If they float right away, the oil is hot and ready. Fry the korokke for 3-4 minutes on each side. Then place them on a plate with paper towels on it. Then it’s time to eat!

There are many ways to eat the yummy korokke. You can eat it plain. I like to eat is as a main dish where I pour Tonkatsu Sauce on it. I also love making a korokke sandwich. My husband loves adding korokke to his curry. Any way you decide to eat it, I guarantee it will satisfy your stomach.

A small clean up tip – do not pour the oil down the drain. Instead use an oil hardener. It’s fantastic because once the oil hardens you throw it away in the garbage! Clean up is much simpler. The only problem is that I have yet to find it around here in Cleveland. But if you happen to come across it at an Asian grocery store, definitely get it.

With a site called Gyoza Please, you would think my first ever blog post would be about gyoza. The thing is, the site is really named after my husband’s deep love for gyoza (I’ll go into details when I get around to writing about gyoza). So why curry as my first post? Well, it’s simple, it’s a dish that you can’t mess up. To be more exact, it’s a dish I can’t mess up. I will mention on numerous occasions that I’m not a very good cook. I almost always need a recipe to follow, I never improvise, yet there have been times where I have completely botched a dish. But with curry you don’t really have to follow the directions. It’s fantastic! There are also some serious pros for curry:

• Great dish for fellow parents who are struggling to get their kids to eat veggies
• Great leftover dish/warms up well the next day
• Can be both a vegetarian or meaty dish
• Great for working parents that don’t have a lot of time to cook a homemade meal

Japanese curry (or curry rice) is a staple meal in most Japanese homes. Kids in Japan have grown up eating it and continue to eat it. It’s like the mac & cheese of Japan. It’s thought that curry was introduced to the Japanese back in the late 1800s and like many other yoshoku (Western foods), it has evolved over time to fit the Japanese palate. When the curry mixes became readily available in grocery stores, it really became a staple meal in many Japanese homes. In general the dish includes onions, carrots, potatoes, and meat and it is served with white sticky rice. In homes and in restaurants you can also include tonkatsu/pork cutlet or korokke (Japanese croquette).

When I make curry at home, I include onions, carrots, potatoes, and ground beef. I then try to add one more veggie to make sure my son gets plenty of veggies in him when I can. It’s usually green peas or broccoli. It’s odd, but my favorite part of making curry is the prep work. It’s a weird thing, but I enjoy chopping up vegetables, it’s rather therapeutic. In those 10-15 minutes where I’m concentrating on not chopping off my fingers, I forget about work or what my husband pissed me off about (like most other women), maybe that’s why I enjoy it. So, remember how I mentioned that curry rice is fool proof. Well, here’s why. Once I cut up all the vegetables, the next steps are easy. I warm up some oil, then saute then onions. Once the onions are clear I add the ground beef. I don’t necessary wait for the beef to completely cook before adding in the remaining vegetables. I cook and stir everything for about 5 minutes before I add the water. Now the amount of water you add depends on how thick or thin you want the curry to be. I tend to like thicker curry, so I usually add a littler over 2 cups and let it come to a boil.

So, I’m sure you are wondering by now, what about the curry flavor. Well, this is where I cheat. I use a mix instead of creating my own. Here’s the thing, the curry mixes they sell are amazing. Why go crazy and create your own mix, when you can get some really tasty curry from an instant curry roux that’s in the shape of a block. I prefer using the S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix“. There are  different spice levels, but since my son is not yet ready for the heat (although he does love some spicy Indian food), we use the mild version. The Golden Curry mix can be found in most grocery stores. You just have to find the teeny tiny Asian shelves in the international section of the grocery store. Nowadays, you can also find some pre-made curry in vacuum-sealed bags that can be reheated in boiling water or the microwave, but I have yet to find those around me. Then again, I do live in Cleveland so it’s not really that surprising. I usually have my mom send me the vacuum-sealed Anpanman curry from Japan.

Now getting back to the cooking part. I believe the box says to bring the water to a boil, then let it simmer for 20 minutes. This is where I go rogue, the one and only time I don’t follow the directions. Instead of just letting the meat and veggies cook without any flavor, I add the curry blocks once the water comes to a boil. I stir until the blocks have dissolved, then I let it simmer for roughly 20 minutes. In my experience, this allows all the vegetables and meat to soak in that nice curry flavor.

The last part is the rice. Growing up in a Japanese house, I am all about rice. I may cheat a bit using a curry mix, but I definitely don’t skimp when it comes to rice and I definitely don’t use rice that comes out of a box. This is where you need to splurge, get a rice maker and make some good sticky rice. You don’t need to go out and buy the most high tech rice maker available. I still use the rice maker my mom handed down to me when I went off to college, so my rice maker is at least 20 years old and still works well. In order to experience good curry, you need good rice.

With the curry and rice complete, all you need is a bowl or plate. You can either pour the curry right on top of the rice or place the curry next to the rice. It’s really your preference. I prefer the curry next to rice, but my husband and son like it poured directly onto the rice. Now, recently my husband has been requesting korokke with curry. He has been to Japan many times and has become quite demanding on what he wants with his curry. If you want to add korokke with curry, you are going to need a lot more than 20 – 30 minutes to prepare your meal, You’ll need more like 1.5 – 2 hours. I’ve had some pretty interesting attempts at making korokke, so definitely check out my future blog on that topic. Anyway, if you adding a korokke or tonkastu, you can also add that to your plate and pour the curry on it.

There’s one thing I would like my readers to remember when it comes to curry. The potatoes in the curry get really hot. Whatever you do, don’t immediately eat the potatoes!

I hope you enjoyed my first ever blog post!