Japanese Croquettes

Last time my friend and I made Macarons together, she showed me how to make these delicious Japanese Croquettes.  They are simple, but so delicious, it's hard to get enough.  You combine mashed potatoes, onion, and cooked ground beef into a ball, then dip it in flour, then into beaten egg, and then into Panko break crumbs, and then fry it in oil.  You can make a lot of these at one time and then just fry as needed; make sure you bring them to room temp before frying.  

Japanese Croquettes

From my friend H.S.

1 pound ground beef

1/2- 1 onion, to taste

3-4 medium potatoes

black pepper

seasoning to taste; garlic powder, seasoned salt, whatever you like

flour- 1/2 to 1 cup

2-3 eggs, beaten

Panko bread crumbs, 1-2 cups

Oil, for frying

Ketchup, for serving

1.  Cook and crumble the ground beef, drain fat and set aside.  Chop onion and set aside.  Peel and boil potatoes until tender; mash.  Combine mashed potatoes, cooked ground beef, and onion.  Season with black pepper and any other additional seasonings you desire.  

2.  Take potato mixture and form into balls with your hands.  You can make them big or small, but not too huge.  I think our biggest were probably about 1/4-1/3 cup of mixture, and the smaller ones were half that.

3.  Into 3 separate bowls, put flour, beaten eggs, and Panko bread crumbs.  (So one bowl for each item.)  Dip the balls into flour first, then eggs, then Panko, making sure to coat all sides.  Set aside.  (Can make these ahead to this point- cover and refrigerate.  When ready to fry, let come to room temp. for 30 minutes or so first.)

4.  Heat about an inch (or more, if you want- should be enough to come up to half-way point of largest ball) of oil in a skillet until hot.  Fry Croquettes until lightly browned on one side, and then flip and cook the other side.  Don't have the oil too hot or will brown too quickly and not warm the inside.  

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