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Hero shot of Menchi Katsu served on a plate.
Menchi Katsu (Ground Meat Cutlet)
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Total Time
30 mins
 

Menchi Katsu looks like a Japanese-style croquette but this is basically a deep-fried patty/rissole. While Japanese croquette is made of mashed potatoes with a small amount of pork mince, this is mainly beef and pork mince.

Recipe Type: Main
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: beef mince, cutlet, ground beef, ground pork, korokke, menchi katsu, pork mince
Serves: 4
Author: Yumiko
Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)
Patty:
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 250g/8.8oz beef mince/ground beef
  • 250g/8.8oz pork mince/ground pork
  • 3 tbsp bread crumbs soaked in 2 tbsp milk (note 1)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp tomato sauce/ketchup
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • ½ tsp salt
  • A pinch of pepper
  • A pinch of nutmeg
Frying:
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 1 cup panko bread crumbs (note 2)
  • Oil for deep frying
Sauce
  • 4 tbsp tomato sauce/tomato ketchup
  • 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Garnish:
  • Shredded cabbage
  • Tomato wedges
  • Few stems of fresh parsley
Instructions
Sauce
  1. Mix the Sauce ingredients well until there are no lumps of the tomato ketchup.

Making Patties
  1. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a frying pan and heat over medium high heat. Add chopped onions and sauté until they become translucent and the edges of the onion pieces start to brown. Put aside to cool.

  2. Add all the Patty ingredients including sautéed onion to a bowl and mix well until it becomes sticky (note 3). Divide the mince mix into 8 equal portions.

  3. Oil your hands, take one portion at a time and make a ball. Throw the mince ball from one hand to the other hand a couple of times to remove the air inside the patty.
  4. Shape it into a flat oval with about 2-2.5cm/¾-1' thickness. Repeat step 3 and 4 to make 8 patties.

Frying
  1. Arrange each of your ingredients on individual plates/bowls - patties, flour, beaten egg and panko. Place a new plate/cutting board next the panko.

  2. Take a patty and coat it with the flour, then dunk in the egg, followed by the bread crumbs. Place it on the new plate/cutting board. Repeat for the rest of the patties.

  3. Heat oil (about 3cm/1¼” deep) in a deep frying pan or a shallow pot over medium low heat to 160C/320F. Add a couple of breadcrumbs into the oil and if the bubbles around the crumbs are small and slowly increasing, it is the right temperature. If the crumbs are surrounded by lots of bubbles and surface instantaneously, the oil is too hot.

  4. Add patties to the oil gently in 2-3 batches (note 4). Fry for about 3-4 minutes until the bottom half of the cutlet is golden brown. Turn it over and fry further 3-4 minutes (note 5). Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil.

  5. Serve while hot with cabbage, tomato and parsley.

Recipe Notes

1. I used panko bread crumbs but if you don’t have them, you can use normal breadcrumbs or even torn up fresh bread.

2. You could use normal bread crumbs. But using panko makes the coating very crunchy when fried.

3. If the patty is too soft to handle, you can add more panko.

4. Do not overcrowd the oil with too many patties.

5. Time taken to cook meat depends on the frying pan/pot, thickness of the patty etc. When meat is cooked through, you will feel the Menchi Katsu is lighter and floats in the oil.

6. Nutrition per serving (two Menchi Katsu pieces), assuming that the amount of oil absorbed into a Mench Katsu is 10% of the weight of the Mench Katsu.

serving: 273g calories: 758kcal fat: 55g (85%) saturated fat: 13g (65%) trans fat: 1.3g polyunsaturated fat: 17g monounsaturated fat: 20g cholesterol: 183mg (61%) sodium: 991mg (41%) potassium: 695mg (20%) carbohydrates: 35g (12%) dietary fibre: 1.9g (8%) sugar: 8.5g protein: 30g vitamin a: 5.5% vitamin c: 8.7% calcium: 10% iron: 28%