Korokke (Japanese Potato and Ground Meat Croquettes)
Crunchy outside, fluffy and a little bit sweet inside. It is one of the very popular Japanese home cooking dishes. Nothing is so satisfying than taking a big bite into the freshly fried hot korokke. Have it with tonkatsu sauce (sweet Worcestershire sauce). Cooking time assumes that the time taken to boil the potatoes is 30 minutes.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 45 min
- Yield
- 12 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 600g/1.3lb starchy potatoes ((note 1))
- 1 tbsp oil
- 200g/0.4lb pork mince ((ground pork) (note 2))
- 1 small onion finely diced
- Salt & pepper
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sake
- 1 tbsp mirin
- ½ tbsp sugar
- 50g/1.8oz flour
- 1 beaten egg
- 2 cups Japanese bread crumbs ((note 3))
- Oil for deep fry
- Shredded cabbage
- Parsley leaves
- Tonkatsu sauce ((note 4))
Instructions
- 1
Put potatoes in a saucepan and add water to cover the potatoes sufficiently. Turn the heat on high and bring to a simmer.
- 2
Cook potatoes until a bamboo skewer or a thin knife can get through to the centre of the potatoes easily. This will take 15-40 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes (note 5).
- 3
When the potatoes are cooked, drain into a colander. Peel the potatoes immediately and place them into the saucepan just emptied. It is very hot so use a cloth or layers of kitchen paper to hold the potatoes.
- 4
Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes mostly but leaving some tiny chunks of potatoes.
- 5
While boiling potatoes, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a fry pan over medium high heat. Add onion and sauté until the onion becomes translucent and soft (about 3-5 minutes). Add pork, salt & pepper and cook, breaking it up as you go until browned and cooked through.
- 6
Add the cooked mince to the potatoes in the pot (discard oil if accumulated in the fry pan), then the Korokke Flavouring ingredients. Mix well (note 6).
- 7
Divide the potato mixture into 12 equal balls. Flatten them and shape into oval patties, about 2cm/¾” thick.
- 8
Place flour, egg and breadcrumbs in a shallow plate or bowl individually.
- 9
Coat each patty with flour, egg, then breadcrumbs.
- 10
Heat oil in a deep fry pan over medium heat. Fry the patties for 1-2 minutes until the breadcrumbs become golden brown. You can fry more than one patty at a time but do not overcrowd the fry pan.
- 11
Serve immediately with shredded cabbage with a stem of parsley leaves, accompanied by tonkatsu sauce.