Simply Oishi Katsudon

Japanese food never fails to bring out my sumo appetite! I always end up eating like a sumo wrestler every time I’m at a Japanese restaurant … and all you have to do is roll me all the way home.

Their portions are often times quaintly served and for someone who eats a lot, you get tempted to eat more.

So much effort is put into each dish that you’d feel guilty just chomping down on it. A perfect example of which is the Sushi bar! Although I’m not a real fan of anything that stares back at me, I do like Maki rolls. Have you ever watched a Sushi chef prepare a single serving of those pretty raw things you just gobble in one minute? Let alone making one yourself? I feel sorry for the Sushi chef who pays attention to every single detail of these small pieces of art, but I guess the appreciation comes from how many of them you’ve managed to devour.

True enough, Japanese cuisine often looks so tedious to prepare. Everything they cook seems to have some sort of a ritual to it. Their food presentation always looks like it follows a certain Zen rule in its arrangement and at times, the food looks too pretty to eat. But hey, when you’re hungry….you’re hungry! And right now, I am drooling at the thought of a steaming hot bowl of Katsudon!

Katsudon is a rice meal made of breaded and fried pork cutlet simmered in a mix of Japanese sauce, veggies and egg. Mostly, any Japanese dish with the suffix “don” means it is a rice meal served in a bowl. The main ingredients are simmered together with sweet and savoury sauces, vegetables and topped over steaming white sticky rice.

Now if there isn’t any decent Japanese restaurant near you, you can always try your hand at cooking some Katsudon for yourself. Here’s an easy recipe that is totally Oishi ne!

KATSUDON

Ingredients:

120g Pork Loin/pork steak cuts
salt and pepper to season
Flour
A Pinch of Water
Japanese Panko Bread Crumbs
1 egg
Cooking oil

Katsudon Sauce

50ml Water
1/5 tsp Granulated Dashi
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Mirin
1 tsp Sugar
Onion- thinly sliced
Leeks
1 Egg
Japanese Wild Parsley

Fresh Steamed Rice

Instructions:
• Season pork cutlet with salt and pepper. Coat both sides with flour, dip it in the egg and coat both sides with bread crumbs. Deep fry in oil until golden brown. When cooked, slice the fried cutlet into 1 inch wide pieces and set aside
• To make sauce: In a bowl mix together water, sugar, soy sauce, mirin and dashi. Using an omelette pan, pour in the sauce mixture and add the onions and leeks. Cover and let it boil. Soon as it has come to a boil, lower the heat and put the cutlet in the pan. Pour in the egg and simmer for a few more minutes depending on how you want your egg done.
• Put freshly steamed rice in a bowl and top it with the cooked katsudon, along with any remaining sauce in the pan. Garnish with Japanese parsley and serve hot.

 

Photo Credit: jetalone

Photo Credit: jekert