Pork Mozzarella Croquette

Had sudden craving for melty mozzarella cheeze. Yep, just like the ones on top of pizza.

Before I came to know cheeses better, I always thought that mozzarella was a magic cheese. During my childhood times, what we called 'cheese' is limited to sliced processed cheese, and the only cheese available in the market was produced by Kraft. It made me wonder why those processed cheese won't turn out like those on top of pizza, and now I know why.

Someone out there probably made this before I did, but this is my original recipe that I had thought as I walked back from school, thinking of what to do with the meats I have in my freezer. I am moving to Simpson, IL, for internship this summer, so at the very least I have to clear up my fridge.

So, here we go: pork mozzarella croquette :)

Recipe:

- 1 lb (500g) ground pork

- 3 Tbsp light soy sauce

- 1 tsp white pepper

- 3 Tbsp corn starch

- 1 egg white

- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1C shredded mozzarella cheese
- frying oil

Instructions:
1) Mix ground pork, soy sauce, white pepper and corn starch until well-mixed. Marinate in fridge for ~30 min.
2) Divide the marinated ground pork into 7-8 balls.
3) Take half of a ball and flatten to about 0.5cm thickness.
4) Fill in with ~2/3 Tbsp mozzarella.
5) Put another half of the ball of meat and cover the mozzarella.
6) Shape the mozzarella-filled meat ball on AP flour, make sure all are covered well. Dust off excess flour, and compress the ball using both hands to make the ball firm.
7) Dip in egg white, then roll on panko bread crumbs until it is well covered.
8) Repeat steps 3-7 for all the meat balls.
9) Deep fry at medium-high temperature (i.e., from scale 1 to 7, it's 5) until it is golden brown.
10) Serve when hot.

I suppose you could change the meat to ground beef or ground chicken according to your preferences. I'm a pork lover, and incidentally ground pork is the only ground meat left in my freezer.

You probably could left the croquette for like 30 minutes before the cheese starts to solidify.