Katsudon

One of my sisters was once a notoriously fussy eater. She's definitely come out of her culinary shell in the last few years, but as i was munching down on this dish i thought about how much she would enjoy it. Sometimes Japanese food can be off putting to fussy eaters, but i think i've done a good job of creating the ultimate westernized Katsudon; what is essentially 'nugget, rice and chicken soup!'. But don't let that put you off, this katsudon really hits the spot, particularly as Melbourne mopes into it's dreary cold season.

Donburi, or don for slang is a term that refers to a Japanese 'rice dish' or one bowl meal comprising generally of soup, rice, meat and vegatables. In a previous post i put up a recipe for oyako donburi or chicken rice bowl, and this time i thought i'd try my hand at katsu don, or crumbed porkchop rice bowl which is a little bit more intricate.

Thanks to Shizuoka Gourmet  for providing me with the basics of how to make this dish, but i've changed things around to suit my tastes an an ultimate 'comfort' food. The biggest change is replacing the dashi broth with a chicken and soy broth.

Note that the recipe below indicates ingredients for 3 but in the photos i actually only made a single serving of katsudon. 

Ingredients (serves 3)

Tonkatsu (crumbed pork cutlet)

• 3 pork loin cutlets, about 150gm each
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• Vegetable oil for deep frying

Katsudon

• 3 tonkatsu as above
• 5 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 large carrot
• 1 medium onion
• 1.5 cups Japanese rice, steamed

Method

Tonkatsu

Place the pork fillets between 2 sheets of cling film and whack with a mallet (or saucepan like me!) to flatten out to about 1cm thick)
Coat each fillet lightly with flour.

Then dip in the egg wash, hold it for a second to let some egg drain off and then into the panko, coating liberally.

Heat frying oil in a saucepan until simmering; to test, drop a bit of bread in there and it should be bubbling immediately, but not furiously.
Add the first pork fillet carefully and fry until golden, approximately 4-6 minutes.
Remove and place on paper towel.
Repeat for remaining pork fillets.

Katsudon

Thinly slice the onion and carrots, and slice the tonkatsu into 2cm thick slices; but keep the form of the fillet

Bring the soy and broth to a simmer in a saucepan just large enough to fit the amount of tonkatsu you wish to use.
Add the onions and carrot and simmer for 3 minutes.

Add the tonkatsu, careful to keep the pieces roughly together (to maintain the shape of the fillet).
Bring the soup to a boil.
Pour the eggs over the fillets and place a lid onto the saucepan.

Boil for 5 minutes.
Serve the steamed rice amongst the serving bowls.
Using a spatula, remove the tonkatsu one at a time and carefully lay onto the rice, taking the carrot and onions along with it.
Pour the remaining soup/onions/carrots into the bowls (down the side, not over the tonkatsu)