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
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
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.
