Cooking Lesson #2 | 日本料理

My long life in Japan heavily influenced my eating habits. The result? I really, really love Japanese food. Living in Thailand, I eat Thai food, but I can't help but miss the taste of my other "home".

I have a Japanese friend here, who is an excellent cook, so I asked her one day: "Can you teach me how to make some Japanese dishes?" She eagerly agreed. So, each Friday, we meet, chat, cook and play with her doggie. ^_^

On this day, I learned how to make "croquette", which is a fried cutlet. This was stuffed with potato and ground pork.

First, I fried up the pork...while boiling the potatoes.

After mashing, we added the potatoes and some onions....

After that cooled, we formed the potato into oval shapes (& one heart -- my friend said to do this..for my blog fans! Haha!)

Next, we covered them with flour, dipped the potato-mix into egg, and coated them with bread crumbs.

Flour:

Egg & crumbs:

Finally, into the fry pan! My fear of frying things is slowing disappearing....^_^

The final presentation was so impressive, I thought! Rice, miso soup & the croquette:

Inside:

I am not a dog fan, but my friend's toy poodle is pretty darn cute. He's winning me over...

My cooking partner.. Shinnosuke君♡：

My friend also loves potato -- so much so, she asked if I would teach her how to make mashed potatoes.(!!) This is something all Canadians are experts in...so we'll study together next week. ^_^