Some people ask Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? but I ask Is it wrong to put whipped cream on top of croquettes?
Personally, I don’t think so.
Let’s look at the facts: Mashed potatoes = amazing and fluffy. Whipped cream = amazing and fluffy. One is salty, the other is sweet. One, fried, has a crunchy exterior that pops in the mouth. The other, whipped, has a pillowy texture best draped over anything too pokey. THEREFORE, whipped cream on top of croquettes is the invention none of us knew we needed, and we have DanMemo to thank for this hallowed discovery.
Behold, photographic evidence:
That’s right. Potato Snacks. With Matcha cream. And Azuki cream! These amazing snacks give you health in the game, which is cool, but I couldn’t get past the “cream” part. Who puts cream on top of fried potato snacks? I was intrigued, stimulated, inquisitive, and hungry. A little-known fact about me is that I love whipped cream, so that’s where my brain automatically went, and, bada bing bada boom, here we are.
The shocking thing about all this isn’t that DanMemo is an amazing game, or that their “health” item is a form of fried potato which we all know is basically a paradox. No, it’s the fact that flavored whipped creams on top of crunchy, potato-beef-onion croquettes are amazingly good. The salty-sweet, crunchy-fluffy textures work perfectly together, and the whipped creams add an instant surprise factor to an otherwise basic meal of Japanese-style croquettes. I would highly recommend you try making this- you won’t regret it. In fact, make some to snack on while you game- it’ll heighten the whole experience for you!
Watch the video below to see the full process.
Ingredients for the Potato Snacks
Adapted from this recipe here.
-1 lb russet potatoes, peeled and large cubed
-1 tsp olive oil
-1/2 lb ground beef
-1/2 onion, minced chopped
-Salt/ Pepper
-Flour (I used a gluten-free variety)
-3 eggs
-Panko (I used gluten-free panko)
-Neutral (I used canola) Oil for Deep frying
Ingredients for the Matcha Whipped Cream
-1/3 cup heavy cream
-1 tsp Matcha powder
-1 tsp powdered sugar
Ingredients for the Red Bean Whipped Cream
-1/3 cup heavy cream
-2 tbsp red bean paste (chunky)
-1 tsp powdered sugar
To Make the Potato Snacks and Creams
1. Heat olive oil in a large pan over high heat. Toss in onion and saute for a minute or two, until slightly translucent. Add in ground beef and break into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until browned, then remove from heat.
2. Bring a pot of water to boil, and season with salt. Add in cubed potatoes and boil about 13-15 minutes, or until they fall apart when poked with a fork. Drain water, add into a bowl and mash with a spoon or a potato masher.
3. Add in the beef mixture to the potato mixture, and mix together well. You can switch to using your hands to make sure everything is evenly incorporated. Pat down into the bottom of the bowl, and split into 8 pieces.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out one potato portion, and pat into an oval shape that is about 1 inch thick. If you want smaller bites, split each piece of croquette in half, and pat into an oval shape that is still about 1 inch thick. (You’ll get 16 this way). Place each fully formed croquette on the prepared baking sheet, and freeze for thirty minutes.
5. While the croquettes freeze, work on the creams. Add Matcha powder to the heavy cream, and whisk. When at light peaks, add in powdered sugar, and keep whisking until medium peaks are achieved. Set aside in the fridge. For the red bean cream, start whisking the cream until light peaks form. Then, add in the powdered sugar and whisk through, then add in the red bean paste, and whisk until firm peaks form. Set aside in the fridge.
6. Add canola oil to a pan with sides that go straight up. You want the oil to hit the halfway point or a little over. Add in a thermometer, and bring to 350 F.
7. While oil heats, prepare croquettes. Whisk eggs together with salt and pepper. Set out flour and panko. Coat croquettes, one at a time, but saturating in flour, then egg, then panko. Repeat if you’d like a thicker coat. Set back on baking sheet to wait for imminent boiling in oil.
8. When ready to go with all your croquettes, fry, two at a time, about 3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown all over. Flip halfway through cooking. Keep oil temperature consistently around 350-370 F for best results, and let the oil come back to temp after you remove your croquettes. Drain on a rack or on a paper towel. Salt generously.
9. Serve warm, and eat with copious amounts of flavored whipped creams 🙂
I hope you enjoyed this post! Check in next week for another recipe, and to check out more anime food recipes, visit my blog. If you have any questions or comments, leave them below! I recently got a Twitter, so you can follow me at @yumpenguinsnack if you would like, and DEFINITELY feel free to send me food requests! My Tumblr is yumpenguinsnacks.tumblr.com. Find me on Youtube for more video tutorials! Enjoy the food, and if you decide to recreate this dish, show me pics! 😀