I hope you’ve noticed The Kitchen Chronicles’ new re-design! I’ve been wanting to make this site look more like my own for a long, long time but it wasn’t until my first-year college roommate (!!) volunteered to make it happen that it actually did. I’m super excited to build out some new functionalities over the course of the next few months (a recipe index, printable recipes and a travel index) so please bear with me as the site may look a bit lopsided from time to time as this happens.
I just returned from a week-long vacation in stunning (and also humbling) Guatemala, a little more relaxed and a lot more refreshed. We ate a lot of delicious food (I think I had Guatemalan chuchitos every day, including for breakfast) and I’m really looking forward to trying my hand at some of those flavors (in the meantime, I have one Guatemalan dish here) but I’m not going to share that today. Today, we’re going just about as far around the other side of the world as we can, to a place I’ve never been but is very, very high up on the to-do list. Japan.
I love Japanese food. All of it. I could eat it every day. And I’ve made oyakudon before (and shared it with you here) but this recipe takes it a step further with a killer combo of donburi (meaning “over rice” and very commonly a Japanese-style omelette) and tonkatsu (breaded and fried pork cutlets). Katsudon. I have to say – I made this recipe at home and loved it, then ordered katsudon at the Japanese lunch counter near my office the next week, and…I liked mine better!
I wouldn’t say this is a hard recipe, but it obviously includes a small frying component and each serving is made separately. So do consider that when you’re factoring in serving. In terms of Japanese ingredients, I’m lucky enough to have two Japanese markets relatively close by so have access to things like mitsuba, but it’s not going to make or break the dish if you don’t. Dashi powder is something that can easily be found online – make sure you look for the MSG-free version if that matters to you, as many brands contain it.
I think the biggest differentiator between my katsudon and the one I ordered shortly thereafter was the thickness of the pork cutlets. The recipe calls for the pork to get a pretty good pounding, and I think this element is crucial. Otherwise, you’re eating a delicate omelette with pork that’s too chewy, and for me that threw the dish. Get find your knife out and get out some pent up aggression on these guys.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t have a finished photo of this. I’m not sure why, but it’s likely because I was pretty excited about eating it and forgot to snap one. I hope you can forgive me – if you want to see what oyakodon looks like (basically this recipe minus the pork), check out the recipe here. For a good katsudon shot, try here. Yep, it’s a pork cutlet in an omelette – and you’re going to love it.
Ingredients
- 4 fillets boneless pork shoulder or pork loin (about 1 pound), about 3/4 inch thick
- 2 eggs + 8 eggs
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 cups panko crumbs
- Vegetable oil for deep-frying
- 1 medium Spanish onion (about 12oz.), peeled, cut in half lengthwise, and sliced
- 1/2 cup dashi
- 1/2 cup sake
- 1/2 cup mirin
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 6 cups cooked Japanese white rice
- 8 sprigs mitsuba, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
Instructions
- First make the tonkatsu. To prepare the fillets, lay them flat on a cutting board. Tap the fillets with the back edge of a kitchen knife (the edge opposite the blade) to dig notches into the meat. Turn the knife so the flat side is facing the fillets. Pound the meat with the knife's flat side about 6 to 8 times on each side of the pork to flatten the meat to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut 1/2-inch notches into the white fat of the fillets, which will prevent the fillet from curling when frying. (Fat shrinks faster than the meta when deep-frying.) Season the fillets on both sides with salt and pepper. Transfer the prepared pork fillets to a plate.
- Beat 2 eggs in a bowl and set aside. Prepare 4 plates. Pour the flour onto the first plate. Pour the beaten egg onto the second plate. Pour the panko onto the third plate. Leaev the fourth plate empty for now (this plate will hold the breaded tonkatsu).
- Place a cash-iron skillet on a burner. Fill the skillet with vegetable oil to a height of at least 1 inch. Attach a deep-fry thermometer to the side of the skillet. On a work surface near the skillet, set up a tray lined with paper towels to drain the cooked tonkatsu. Turn the heat to high and heat the oil to 340 degrees.
- While the oil is heating, bread the fillets. First, dredge a fillet in flour on both sides and shake off excess flour. Second, dip the fillet into the egg, coating both sides. Thir, repeat the process, dreging the pork in the lfour again on both sides, then coating it again with egg on both sides. Finally, lay the fillet on the panko crumbs. Pile panko on top of the pork with your fingers, then gently press the panko onto the fillet with the palms of your hand so a generous layer of panko sticks to the fillet on both sides. Repeat with the other fillets, then place them on the empty plate you prepared earlier.
- When the oil has heated to 340, carefully slide the fillets into the skillet, cooking in batches if necessary. Be careful not to overfill the skillet, which will lower the cooking temperature; use, at most, half of the surface area of the oil to cook. Cook the tonkatsu for about 4 minutes, turning once, until the fillets turn golden brown. When they're ready, transfer the fillets to the paper-lined plate to drain. If possible, stand the fillets on their edges, so they drain better (you can use a metal rack to accomplish this, if you have one). Transfer the tonkatsu to a cutting board and slice into strips.
- Next, add the onion, dashi, sake, mirin and soy sauce to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the onions soften.
- Break 2 eggs into a bowl and lightly beat the eggs, no more than 10 times. You want part of the yolk and whites to be lightly mixed, while other parts are still separated. Step aside.
- To prepare the katsudon one serving at a time, pour one-fourth of the sauce and onions into a small skillet (6 inches works great). Place a sliced tonkatsu fillet in the sauce. Place over high heat and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Pour three-fourths of the egg mixture over the tonkatsu, onions and sauce. Do not mix. Cook for about 1 minute, then add the remaining one-fourth egg over the ingredients in the skillet. Cover the skillet and cook for 30 seconds more. Turn off the heat, and let the katsudon rest, covered, for one minute.
- While the katsudon is resting, scoop 1 1/2 cups of the cooked rice int oa serving bowl. When the katsudon is ready, uncover, and slide entire contents out of the skillet to rest on the rice. Tilt the skillet and use a spatula if necessary; the katsudon should slide out easily. Garnish with mitsuba and serve immediately. Repeat for the remaining servings.
Notes
https://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2016/03/01/katsudon/
