Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Ton Katsudon

Boyfriend, Harold, and I went to Oiistar for dinner on Sunday night, and while much of the meal was not that exciting,* the buns were pretty great, particularly the tonkatsu bun.** I was trying to come up with something quick and tasty to make Boyfriend when he got home from work last night (he usually returns around 11pm) and remembered that tasty pork. A little googling later, I had a plan - a combination of this and this recipe, which culminated in a totally delicious dinner.

You need:

for the tonkatsu:
pork (I bought two thinly cut pork cutlets, because that's what Dill Pickle had, and I felt like buying local, humanely raised, hormone free, etc etc)
panko bread crumbs
vegetable oil
salt and pepper
worcestershire sauce
1 egg

make it don!
rice
1 small onion
2 eggs
1 green onion
dashi broth (I made some - 1 wee piece of kombu and a handful of bonito)
soy sauce
mirin

If you're using dashi broth, get that started - put a wee piece of kombu into about 1 cup of water. Let it sit. After half an hour, put it on heat until almost boiling. Then remove from heat, add a handful of bonito flakes, let sit.

Now, make your pork.  Beat an egg in a wide, shallow bowl. Shake some panko crumbs onto a plate. Add some salt and pepper to it. Trim the pork chops so that you're not getting sudden bites of nasty (ie gristle). Dip the pork chop into the egg, then roll thoroughly in panko. Carefully lay on a plate. Note that most recipes would tell you to dip in flour first, but the flour was hiding in the back of the pantry so I left that part out. And it turned out ok. Anyways, pour a whole bunch of oil into a pan - 1/2 inch or more. Crank the heat. When it's hot hot hot, grab some tongs (kitchen life is SO much easier with tongs. I never used them before, but they are great) and carefully slide the pork into the oil. When the bread crumbs turn a nice golden brown, flip it. When its browned all over (mine took about 4 minutes?), remove and drain on paper towels. Set aside. Clean your pan.

Make rice! Rinse 1 cup rice in a pot. Sprinkle salt over it. Add 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to as low as it'll go, cover, and cook until done - about 20 minutes.

Strain your dashi broth (I use a coffee filter). Put it in a bowl with a tablespoon of mirin and a tablespoon of soy sauce.

When your pork is cooled, slice into strips. Sprinkle worcestershire over it.

Chop the onion into thin-ish slices. Fry over medium-low heat until they start to soften. Meanwhile, finely chop your green onion. Pour the dashi combination over the sauteed onions and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, quickly beat two more eggs into that bowl. When most of the liquid is gone from the onions, pour the egg over it (you're supposed to put the pork on there too. I couldn't bring myself to do it - not my beautifully crisped pork! so the end result was that my pork was only room temperature, which is maybe not ideal, but it was not soggy and covered in egg, so hey). Shake it around the pan, and when its most set, flip it (you can break it into smaller chunks to do that; its fine). Sprinkle about half of your green onions over the top and kinda push em in, so they wilt a wee bit.

Now, you're ready to assemble. Pack some rice into a bowl. Put a layer of onion-egg over it. Top with a few strips of pork. Garnish with some more green onion. Serve with sriracha, for those who want to kick it up a notch.

Yum!



One of the best meals I've made in a long time. And really quite easy!

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*Avoid the tuna carpaccio. It's just not very good. The chicken wings are excellent, and the ramen and green beans were both very pleasant. I'm not sure why I left with such a meh impression of the place, actually - most of what we ate was quite tasty. It's just that we paid more than I'd have liked, and it seemed like everything had an egg on it.

** Both the tempura shrimp and the duck breast were also awesome; the chicken was so-so; the pork shoulder was dry and flavorless. 

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