#597 Croquette Nostalgia

“Norio, what’s your favorite food?”

Is that...my late grandma who passed away when I was still in school?!

What is she doing here?!

“What’s your favorite food?”

Oh, um, croquettes, I guess?!

“I see... Come, I’ll make you Grandma’s special croquettes.”

* * *

That strange dream I had made me crave croquettes.

So I’m going to make some!

Thinking about it, this is my first time making croquettes since coming to this world.

They have a lengthy process, after all!

If I mess up, it might prove even trickier than making nizakana. Not to mention, it involves using oil.

Anyway, I prepared the main ingredients: potatoes, onions, ground meat, breadcrumbs, flour, eggs, and various seasonings.

It’s scary how this farm already has everything I need readily available.

The days of crying and giving up because I didn’t have the ingredients when this farm just started are long gone.

I am moved by such trivial information that validates my path.

Putting that aside, let’s focus on making those croquettes.

Boil potatoes, peel them, and mash them.

Chop the onion.

Sauté the meat.

Mix.

Coat in flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs. 

Deep fry, and done!

I also have a generous amount of finely chopped cabbage on the side!

“Well, if I wanted to make it, I could in a jiffy.”

I do have all the ingredients and utensils that I need.

Now, onto the taste test!

Crunch.

“It’s so crispy inside my mouth...!”

And it tastes so good!

The crispy breading and the hot and fluffy filling are like a potato.

The onions and meat also nullified its starchy taste.

I’ll drizzle some sauce on top and see how it tastes.

It took a lot of effort to develop this sauce for fried food, but it’s indispensable for dishes like tonkatsu. Today, it’s serving its intended purpose.

Drizzle the sauce, and... crunch.

Oh, the freshly fried croquettes stay crispy even with the drizzled sauce.

The sauce cools down the croquette to just the right temperature. Of course, piping hot is good, too.

Ah, the shredded cabbage makes for the perfect side dish.

I feel like eating it with rice now.

Croquette with rice is the only combination that doesn’t make you feel guilty about consuming double carbohydrates.  

Croquette bread is just as good too.

“Wish, and you shall receive...”

“Jambalaya!”

There they are.

You can expect Platy and Veil to show up whenever I cook a new dish.

I’m no longer surprised since it has become a predictable pattern, almost like a tradition.

But Platy’s baby belly has grown even bigger again.

The way she carries our second child in her womb and holds our first, Junior, in her arms, truly makes her seem like a holy mother.

“You shouldn’t be moving around too much. You might hurt yourself. I was planning on bringing you some once they were done, anyway.”

“You know I can’t do that, Dear! That nice aroma beckons me to come! Such is my policy!”

No matter how many children Platy haves, her true nature will never change.

“Hey, hey, hey! Now that we’re here, you gotta serve us that new dish of yours! It’s what we live for!” says Veil, all thug-like.

Junior’s the only one with eyes as clear as the surface of a calm lake.

“Oh, all right. Here.”

“OHHH!”

They’re enthusiastic about the croquettes I presented.

I’m going to fry as many as I can in one day because it’s hard to economize oil.

I’ve prepared a lot of potatoes, too.

“Is this...tonkatsu?”

No, it’s not.

The only thing they have in common is that they’re breaded and deep-fried. Don’t be fooled by its appearance.

“Foooooooh! It really isn’t tonkatsu! It’s so soft and fluffy inside, what is this?”

Veil seems unaware of what’s inside the croquette.

I don’t blame her, however.

I didn’t know croquettes were made of potatoes until I was in my twenties.

“The soft filling highlights the breading’s crispiness even more than tonkatsu does! The sauce goes well with it. I’m in heaven!”

I’m glad to see that Platy likes it too.

...Ah, right. I wonder if Junior would eat croquettes?

I probably shouldn’t be giving him oily food, but Junior is almost two years old, so I’m sure he’d be fine eating what everyone else is eating.

I open the croquette and let it cool so it won’t burn his tongue.

His face says that he enjoys it.

As usual, my son still has the same stoic attitude toward food.

...

But why did I suddenly want to eat croquettes?

Was it because of the dream I had this morning?

But it’s not like I’m that fond of croquettes...

I don’t dislike them, but I don’t love them so much that I dream about them.

If I really loved croquettes, I would’ve made them as soon as possible.

As I wondered why...I began to understand when I gave Junior croquettes.

The taste of croquettes reminds me of home cooking.

Although it has a Western-style name, it has a strong image of home cooking. It’s not the first thing you’d think of ordering at restaurants, either. In fact, not many restaurants offer croquettes.

Is croquette something you eat at home? 

Come to think of it, ready-made and homemade croquettes oddly taste different, even though they’re the same thing. 

Most of the croquettes you buy at the deli corner of the supermarket have been premade that their breading is all soggy. So, homemade is the way to go if you want to enjoy crispy croquettes.

It has a complicated process, and its preparation varies from person to person, but that makes the memories of eating them as a child even more profound.

Did I suddenly want to make croquettes after having such a dream so I could let my son experience the taste of croquettes at his age?

Eh, I’m not really sure myself.

“This is sho, shoooo good! I have found another dish that will be etched in my memoryyy!”

A completely unrelated person is forming a core memory.

Oh well, Veil is an important family member, so there are many fun memories to be shared.

“It’s a hassle to get rid of the oil, so I’ll fry some more.”

“Yay! My stomach can take much, much more!” “I’m going to eat as much as my stomach can take!”

And Junior’s stomach must be feeling like a churn right now. At least, that’s what his face tells me.

Since serving the same croquettes would be boring, I decided to prepare a variety.

I made pumpkin croquettes and protein-rich beef croquettes.

Cream croquettes...are hard to fry, so maybe not this time. Similarly, I’m not making crab cream croquettes since we don’t have crab meat on hand. 

Curry croquette?

I haven’t introduced curry to this world ‘cause I’m still missing a lot of things.

Oyster croquette... Wait, oyster croquette?!

In the end, we hosted a croquette party with regular, pumpkin, and beef croquettes.

The rest of the farm members were lured by the smell and the sound of frying, livening up the party even more.

* * *

The next day, the oil made my stomach upset.

I must’ve had one croquette too many...!