Meatless Monday....with Japanese flair!

We very recently had the incredible pleasure of having house guests from Japan.  My husband's cousin Jake, his wife Chie and their daughter Hana came to stay with us for a few weeks to get a much-needed reprieve from the disastrous events in Japan.  While the circumstances of their visit were terrible, we were so happy to have them here and to have the opportunity to get to know and fall in love with the three of them.  And, just as importantly, learn from them - especially Chie! :)  I discovered in our Japanese cousins kindred spirits.  I don't know how many times I looked at Ron and then at Jake and said, "You two are just alike!"  And the same for Chie and I - we found much in common, especially a love for good food!


For tonight's dinner, I took a lesson from Chie and made korokke, which is the Japanese term for a French dish, the croquette.  We decided Mondays from now on would be meatless, or very close to, as often as possible.  So I made mashed potatoes, then sauteed carrots, onion and garlic in a drizzle of olive oil and mixed it all together, along with a handful of frozen peas.  I made patties of the potato mixture, coated each patty in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and fried them in canola oil.  I tried to copy Chie's sauce, and I know that I didn't get it quite right, but it was good anyway - it is somewhat similar in taste to A1 sauce: ketchup, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and a little sugar.  The korokke and a salad made for a really nice, super tasty, light meatless dinner.

Not all of the korokke were quite so well done, but I was nice and let my hubby have the more golden ones. =P


The amazing thing about this dish is that a little goes a long way.  I only had six smallish potatoes to make, and I used a small onion and a handful of baby carrots, and we had plenty - PLENTY - of korokke to fill us up!  I used about a half cup of flour, two eggs, and only about five slices of bread for the breadcrumbs.


I can't claim that my korokke were as good as Chie's.......but I think they were close :)  So thanks again, Chie, for the knowledge and the experience!