Experiments in Korokke
I love korokke. I’m a big potato fan so it’s only natural that I love it. What I love about the Japanese incarnation of the Potato Croquette is its many variants. I’ve tried cream, scallops, plain, ham and cheese, and curry among others. When I told Yue-san that I buy these in bulk whenever I’m at Hatchin, she was taken aback. She insisted that korokke was easy to make. Taking her word for it, I scrounged up various versions online and consulted my cookbook collection.
Despite the seemingly easy procedure, it was only this weekend that I decided to finally try. While my all time favorite korokke is cream, I can’t even imagine how to begin making it, so I opted for a basic beef korokke instead. How’d it turn out? Total win!
Korokke served with Kewpie Mayonnaise
Peel, wash, and cut a couple of potatoes into large chunks.
Boil the potatoes until done.
While cooking the potatoes, in a separate pan, saute some chopped onions.
Add some ground beef, then season as you like. I added salt, lots of pepper, and a bit of ground cumin. Saute until done, then set aside.
Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or a fork. The finer the mash, the smoother the korokke so mash the potatoes depending on your preferred korokke texture.
Mix the cooked beef and the potatoes, making sure to not include excess oils.
Form potato-beef mixture into patties, cylinders, or balls. Once again, it depends on your personal preference.
Now here’s the messy part. Dredge each potato patty in flour, a beaten egg, and finally, panko / Japanese breadcrumbs. Do this to each patty. To prevent getting doughy fingers, use both hands in the process. Keep one hand for handling the dry ingredients and the other for dipping in egg. It will still result in gummy fingers, but it takes longer for the ingredients to accumulate, unlike when you use just one hand.
Freeze the korokke for future use, or fry them until golden brown. Serve with tonkatsu sauce or kewpie mayonnaise.
I dub this experiment a total success. It’s relatively simple, although all the dredging, dipping, and rolling can be tedious. I recommend doing large batches at once then just freezing the rest. You can substitute the beef with other meat or even fish. Veggies work too.
After today, I can now say I know how to make korokke. My next goal? Cream Korokke! 
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Wow this looks great! And it’s your first try at making them? That is amazing! Too bad I’m a low-carber, but I’m sure I’ll be able to find a potato substitute that’ll match it (although it won’t be the same)
Oooh! Oooh! Must try it. But I’d probably use tuna because my sister doesn’t really like beef much.
Hrmmm! I wonder if oven baking them would work! And with ground chicken!
See? it was easy ne??? (^w^)v Looks oishii! good job!!
Cream korokke is a little hard…but all you need to know is how to make cream sauce.
You can come anytime you want to our place for the recipies!
hmm…its really time for our cooking school ne??
I’ll ask mom…maybe we could have it next week…hmmm(thinks)
Wow! Looks very yummy!
I’m excited for our next cook-off! Virna and Rae tell me that you suggested Mediterranean food?
Tara!
WOW!!!!
What a great presentation, it needs such a lot of patience to do the whole thing and you have done it so well.
i love your site and am a regular visitor to it , i have said it before you are a great inspiration to me when i make my sons tiffin boxes.
pls reply at my email if you read this comment.
mahek
@amvn:
And are carrots low carb? Cause if they are, I think boiled carrots can have a similar texture to boiled potatoes, only the flavor might be more intense. Oh, and how about chick peas? You can make falafel instead 
Thanks! While this is my first attempt to make korokke, I think all those years making tonkatsu came in handy since it was the same basic flour + egg + panko breading. As to a low carb substitute, maybe cauliflower? I remember you making lots of wonderful things with it: onigiri, fried “rice”. Why not croquettes?
@Clair & L~:
I imagine both tuna and chicken would be really good. But I think tuna and chicken cream would be even better. Darn, must really work on cream korokke. And baking might be a healthier substitute to frying. I imagine it’s only to brown the breading anyway, since the whole thing, minus the egg, is fully cooked beforehand.
@YUE:
You’re so right! Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving me the encouragement to experiment
@dementedchris:
GAME! You girls are on!
@Mahek:
Thanks for the kind words. Emailed you about something else, btw.
I’m not sure if ovenbaking would work with the Japanese breadcrumbs. I know it works with regular ones but the shape and “fuzzy”ness of panko is rather dependent on the oil I think…
I found two recipes for oven fried chicken that used panko. One was from Cooks Illustrated and the other was from Tyler Florence (Aheeehee. Tyler. Heehee.) http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_27188,00.html
Admittedly though, the recipes don’t mention whether the characteristic crunch of panko crusted food is present. So, only one way to find out. Time to experiment!
I’ll try to bake a few korokke this weekend, will report if it’s successful. 
I’d experiment with either tuna or chicken first before trying the one with cream hehe
[...] Kitchencow, I got a recipe for korokke, which I should try soon! And in the comments part is a discussion for low carb substitutes and all [...]
[...] Kitchencow, I got a recipe for korokke, which I should try soon! And in the comments part is a discussion for low carb substitutes and all [...]
Thanks to your tonkatsu recipe I was able to make ahead several pork tonkatsu. I also used the leftover panku / egg / flour to bread some beef meatballs. I must try this sometime, but it’s hard to come up with ways to cook only small amounts that won’t take up lots of space on the fridge.
I like the suggestion of cauliflower korokke as I adore cauliflower. I would like to try it with grated cheese (possibly mozzarella and another cheese) and cream because I miss chou au gratin.
Incidentally, reading the Little House on the Prairie series, you will see them mention creamed carrots. They added milk to the mashed carrots, and I think it was described as ‘fluffy’.
My new place of work (Asian Media Development Group) doesn’t have a microwave sadly, so I haven’t yet figured out where to reheat my food (and the only place to eat is a Ministop! Ugh!)
We’re in the same boat! We don’t have a microwave anymore either that’s why I can’t reheat my food, narrowing down my bento options. I used to be able to bring stews to work, then just nuke them.
I’m seriously considering buying a thermal set just for Korean Beef Stew but I’m not sure if the one I’m eyeing (a cute tiny set from Thermos) would be leak-proof enough. And whether it can keep food really hot, so it’s still a toss-up between a Mr. Bento-style Lunch Jar and the cute Thermos set.
And I didn’t know you’re Manila-based! I smell Bento Meet-up!
oh i love to make these!!! i have never made that many at once though! they look delicious!!!!! =D
[...] Experiments in Korokke 13 lalalady7, kaoko, kaoko [...] [...]
Your korokke look soo yummy, but what I found the most interesting was your simple solution to avoiding yucky fingers!! I’ve never thought of using two hands (I don’t know why!!) and from now on I will definitely do that whenever I make tonkatsu. It drives me absolutely bananas to have to wash my fingers with each slice.
It’s probably because we think we make less of a mess when using only one hand. But like you, I have to wash my fingers after every slice since I hate having floury fingers. XD I forgot where I read / heard of that tip, otherwise, I’d attribute, but hey I know that somehow, somewhere, there’s probably a person who’s happy about having made a difference to a pair of gummy fingered tonkatsu makers
[...] Experiments in Korokke 15 kaoko, Pikko, lalalady7 [...] [...]
[...] Cream Korokke. Still the store-bought frozen kind. I hope I find time to make home-made cream korokke soon. The [...]
[...] recipes are realistic. Mama’s Tonkatsu cooking procedure is almost identical to mine, and her korokke (croquette) technique? I learned to make korokke from [...]
Oh my, my. This looks…DE-LI-CI-OUS!
*cough* Erm, what veggies would you prefer to mix in the potato?
I have to confess, I’ve never tried mixing veggies in, and have never thought about it. But I have eaten a cream korokke with a smattering of corn, I bet it would taste better if it had more corn. Maybe corn, carrots and peas? Plus, they freeze well so it won’t be a problem if you made some for freezing. If you do try some with veggies, please share your versions
I’m sure the vegetarians reading this would enjoy hearing your ideas.
Corn sounds nice…and carrots too! Thanks!
The reason why I asked is because we have a vegetarian living in our house. 
Thank you!
If I do try it, I’ll be sure to share.
You’re welcome Sara! And you can always opt to go plain potato or potato and cream
Hi just found your site and I was curious to at what stage do you freeze the excess? After putting the panko crumbs? Or what? In fact, how do you go about freezing them? (:
Yes, after putting the panko. I usually lay them on a single layer on a freezer safe container. If I have more than 1 layer to freeze, I just lay a sheet of wax paper between layers. Then when I need to cook, I just stick them in hot oil over low to medium heat then fry while frozen.
I’ve heard of some people freezing after they fry but I prefer my korokke freshly “cooked” and crispy.