Kabocha Croquettes (Korokke) かぼちゃコロッケ

These are fantastic! Usually eat them on their own with dipping sauce, but what would you recommend for pairing it with a meal?

Based on the ingredients and that it’s deep fried, I assumed I’d have a decent korokke , but these… wow, far better than I even anticipated. The tiny crunch of onion, the flavor of bacon and the creamy pumpkin were in perfect ratio. I didn’t even need to salt them at the end or whip up a dipping sauce. And even though they lost their beautiful crunch once they went room-temp in my bento, it served to emphasize the softness and flavors of the inside, like a pumpkin salad in its own little packet (or like a creamy potato salad).

Thank you!! I had leftover roasted kabocha and used that. It was a bit dry but still good! I made half with cheese instead of bacon (for pescatarian kid) and was surprised I actually liked it! The Japanese market sometimes carries Kabocha Korroke but it’s great to try making it myself and better fresh (& with bacon)! Thank you!

Yum! We tried these last night, without the bacon & deep fried, and they were delicious!
I had a thought that next time I might try sneaking a little goat cheese into the kabocha balls..

I’ve had these croquettes from restaurants lots of times and absolutely love them, and have been excited to try out the recipe myself. Unfortunately my first attempt was not a success, and I’m not entirely sure why (I have several theories but not sure which one).

I used some different ingredients since I’m now on a medical diet which is pretty restrictive, but the problem doesn’t seem to be with any of them—the problem is with the squash itself. When I tried the croquettes, the filling just didn’t taste like the ones I’ve had before, and honestly aren’t that nice. I’m so disappointed because I literally spent the whole weekend prepping the kabocha (I lack energy/stamina and arm strength, so just cutting it took a long time and required multiple breaks).

This is the first time I’ve tried kabocha apart from restaurant korroke. Assuming the korroke I’ve had before actually were made with kabocha rather than a different squash, my most likely theory is it doesn’t taste good because by the time I had an opportunity to use it (I had trouble finding it in the shops so nabbed it when I saw it, and so it was waiting to be used for quite a few days sitting around in my kitchen) it was past its best. There was a small fuzzy patch I cut off, and a bit of the skin looked a bit discoloured. When I (eventually) cut it open, I thought it didn’t smell that nice, but assumed that was probably just because it was raw. (The smell was similar to how it tastes now, so I know that was a wrong assumption.) The flesh looked a little darker than in the pictures. I did hesitate and wonder whether I should really be using it, but after all the effort and anticipation leading to that point, plus not wanting to be wasteful by chucking it if it was okay to eat, I decided to try it anyway. (I didn’t risk using the skin though.)

Because of aforementioned stamina issue and a lack of proper steaming equipment, I decided to cook the squash in the microwave. Unfortunately I couldn’t cut it into slices to fit, so I tried softening the halves up in the oven a bit beforehand (I’d done this earlier in the week on a sugar pumpkin, a lot more successfully). The flesh was easier to cut when it came out but still looked and felt hard to the touch. After a lot of microwaving and checking on it, I realised that some bits had just gone hard and wouldn’t soften. When most of it was finally soft enough to mash, I mashed it as well as I could. There were still a few small lumps in it but I managed to mash most of it. The mash was then stored in the fridge over two nights because I was unable to do anything more to it on Sunday or at all yesterday. This morning when I was scooping it into balls, I was surprised how easy it was, and got my hopes up that meant it would be a success.

I coated the balls okay (with low protein ingredients, but that wasn’t the issue) and deep-fried the first six, stopping there to try some for lunch. Unfortunately, as I’ve said, the filling just didn’t taste that nice. They’re edible (assuming I’m not sick later) but just don’t taste good, and I’m feeling pretty upset now, it seems like such a waste of effort. I don’t know if the problem was a bad squash, the wrong squash (it was in a “mixed squash” box so although it looks like a kabocha both outside and inside, there’s a possibility I got it wrong; I almost mistook a different kind of squash for kabocha the other day, so I guess they can look pretty similar) or I cooked it wrong or not enough. I used the entire squash as well, so made double the recipe, and have a plateful of korroke sitting in my kitchen waiting to be fried, and I can’t make up my mind whether to or not. I suppose I could just put them in the oven so at least it’s less effort. I hate wasting food (and time and energy) so I can’t bring myself to just throw them away but I don’t particularly want to eat them either.

I don’t know if you can offer any advice on what I did wrong without having seen/tasted for yourself, but if you can think of anything, please let me know.

Is it possible to roll the korokke ahead of time to fry later? Thank you 🙂