Katsudon
Katsudon is a popular Japanese food, a bowl of rice topped with a deep-fried breaded pork cutlet, egg, vegetables, and condiments.
Equipment
- newspaper, to drain the pork chops
- frying pan
Ingredients
For the pork chops
- 4 thin-cut pork chops poke some holes with folk to soften the meat
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten with 1 TB water
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- ½ cup vegetable oil for frying
For the eggs
- 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 TB vegetable oil
- 1 medium yellow onion cut into fourth, and then into ¼ inch thin strips
- 2 shitake mushrooms stems removed, and sliced into ¼ inch thin strips
- 1 head fresh spinach cut into 2" strips
- 1 green onion cut to about 2" in length
- ¾ cup water
- 2 TB soy sauce
- 1 TB sake
- 1 TB mirin
- 2 tsp dashinomoto
- 1 TB katakuriko or corn starch mixed with 1 TB water
- 4 cups rice cooked
Instructions
Make the pork chops
- Pour the vegetable oil in a deep pan with about 1/2" and heat.
- Bread the pork chops: Season each chop with salt and pepper. First, flour the pork chops, one at a time, and remove excess flour. Dip each floured chop into the beaten eggs. Finally, lay it in the panko crumbs and cover the pork with crumbs on both sides. Repeat this with all 4 chops.
- With medium/high heat, fry two chops at a time until the bread crumbs are just right, brown in color (because the chops are thin cut, frying should take less than 2 minutes each side). Put the fried chops on the paper towel with newspaper underneath to catch the excess dripping oil.
Make the eggs
- In a medium size frying pan, put 2 TB vegetable oil and heat in a medium heat. Place the onion and shiitake in and fry them until they're soft. Pour the water, say sauce, sake, mirin, and dashinomoto in the onion mixture. When it boils, add the liquid corn starch and stir. When it thickens, add the spinach and pour the mixed eggs from the edge of a pan to end at the center.
- Cover it with lid and lower the heat. When the eggs are half cooked, turn the heat off.
To serve
- Fill 4 donburi (large bowls like ramen-bowl, cereal bowl, large soup bowl) with rice to about ¾ of a bowl. Cut the chops to about 3/4” strips and place one in each bowl. By now the egg topping should be done. Remove the lid and section it to four pieces. Place each section to each of the bowls by covering only 1/3 of the chop, the rest topping the rice.
Notes
You can check the temperature of oil by dipping a wooden chop stick. If it sizzles, the oil ready. Or, drop few bread crumbs in. If they immediately fry and come to surface, the oil is hot and ready to fry.