How to make croquettes – comfort food with fun fillings, from Japanese-style to cheesy béchamel
Versatile and satisfying, this recipe can be adapted according to what you have available in the fridge
Croquettes have almost universal appeal, because who doesn’t like starchy fried things? (If you don’t, then skip this week’s column.) The filling can be adapted, which means these recipes are great for using up scraps of (still good) meat, seafood and vegetables in the fridge – just use common sense when combining the ingredients.
Curried korokke (Japanese-style potato croquettes, pictured)
If you’re feeding children (or others with sensitive palates) decrease (or even skip) the curry powder; if you’re a vegetarian, omit the beef and add more vegetables (blanched peas and/or corn kernels are good). The fried croquettes reheat beautifully in the oven whether they were refrigerated or frozen.
600 grams baking potatoes
100 grams onion
100 grams carrot
200 grams minced beef
1 ½ tsp curry powder, or to taste
1 ½ tsp granulated sugar
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Plain (all-purpose) flour
2 large eggs
Panko
Cooking oil, as needed
Kewpie mayonnaise
Shichimi togarashi
Scrub the potatoes then put them unpeeled in a saucepan and add cool water to cover by about 2cm. Place the pan over a high flame and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, partially cover the pan with the lid and simmer the potatoes until just tender but not mushy. Drain the potatoes and, when they are still warm but cool enough to handle, strip off and discard the skin. Mash the potatoes until smooth, then set them aside to cool.
Finely dice the onion and carrot. Heat about 15ml of oil in a skillet and when it’s hot, add the onion and carrot and cook over a low flame until the carrot is tender. Turn the heat to high, add the beef and about half a teaspoon of salt, the curry powder and sugar. Cook, stirring often, just until the beef loses its pink colour. Cool to room temperature. Add the beef and vegetable mixture to the potatoes, sprinkle in one teaspoon of salt and some black pepper and mix well. Refrigerate for at least one hour, or until well chilled.
Taste the croquette mixture and mix in more curry powder and/or, salt if needed. Form the mixture into 16 to 18 evenly sized shapes (I like ovoids but you can make them into cylinders or thick discs).