10.03.2005

Pantry Raid: Curry-Flavored Potato Croquettes

croquette

I recently got my car repaired for a whopping two and a half paychecks worth of a bill. So in order to budget I will be eating out of my pantry with the additions of a few affordable groceries. I usually spend around $200-$250 a month on groceries for myself even though living at home. I am trying to cute down to about $150 for this month. And of course my mom buys the Korean food so I will be taking a greater part in eating that. So the first Pantry Raid entree is Curry-Flavored Potato Croquettes.

The only thing I bought for this dish was the potatoes which cost $1.50. For the meat I used my mom's Kirkland Canned Chicken. I was so grossed out when my mom first bought these (which she doesn't cook with anyways) but in the croquette it works fine. The recipe said that canned tuna or salmon will work well too, so why not canned chicken. To go with the croquettes I made cabbage salad with thousand island dressing. The cabbage cost $1.60 and I only used a fourth of it, so 40 cents to be exact. The Boy made some jasmine rice so $0 for me. :)

The croquettes turned out okay. I used regular bread crumbs because I didn't have any panko and shallow fried it bc, well deep-frying uses so much oil. The thought of having to clean, drain or store a large amount of oil seems like too much of a hassle. They look a little bit burned but they tasted fine but panko would definitely be an improvement.

Total cost of non-pantry items=$2.00 [dinner for 2 and bento lunch for 2].

6 comments:

tanvi said...

Mmm I adore potato croquettes! Usually I make mine alongside a split pea stew. Yours look wonderfully crisp :-)

e d b m said...

hi yoony, those look great. i've tried to make these myself and it could get messy . if you're ever in west LA, i recommend trying Blue Marlin's croquettes. it's off sawtelle blvd in the West LA Little Tokyo district.

did you use any dipping sauce?

susan said...

i used hp sauce and ketchup (not mixed). i vaguely remember seeing blue marlin. is it in the same plaza as hurry curry? i get out to sawtelle once in a while but i'll try their croquettes next time. (i've never had a proper japanese croquette before). have you tried the Korean koroke? It's a staple item at Korean bakeries. Sooo good. :)

susan said...

tanvi,

thanks for commenting! they were indeed crispy at first but after i packed them up they weren't as much. it was still good though bc of the fried flavor. your idea of serving it with stew (or soup) sounds great. i'll have to try that next time instead of the bento thing. :)

e d b m said...

i didn't even know they MADE canned chicken. makes sense since there's canned tuna and SPAM. actually i do love corned beef hash though, with eggs and rice. official food of the poor college student. well when i was in college atleast.

susan said...

mealcentric,

stuffed into a baguette sound great! although my mom bought the canned chicken i don't want to be wasteful so it's good now i know how to make the croquettes. mmm, hot sauce. that's what i was missing. i love hot sauce and spicy food.

dylan,

my mom loves kirkland so she buys all sorts of stuff. she also bought their huge crystal wine glasses and organic milk. lol, kirkland is taking over. i gotta say i like the quality of their products. i love spam and corned beef! in college i had a lot of spam, ramen, pasta and individually frozen galbi from home. yeah, poor college days. miss and don't miss them.