Katsudon, food of the gods
An excellent japanese dish, though it does take quite awhile to make (which is just a good excuse to roll up some sushi to munch on while you're cooking).
Ingredients:
7 tbsp soy sauce
6 tbsp sugar
1 cup warm water
sprinkling dashi (optional, but if you can find it, use it)
5 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp sake
1-1.5 lb pork
package of panko (japanese style bread crumbs)
eggs (varies, but 6-8)
vegetable oil
Trim and slice the pork into pieces about 1/4 inch thick. In the middle of each piece of pork make cuts all the way through, spaced about half an inch apart. (size of the pieces other than thickness doesn't matter much at this point, it'll all get cut up later anyway).
Crack two eggs into a bowl and thoroughly mix; pour the panko into another bowl. Dip the pork in the egg, and bread with the panko, using more eggs if needed.
Heat enough oil to deep fry in a wok to medium-high heat (you'll have to reduce the heat slightly for thicker pieces of pork). Cook the pork until done, and if possible fish out any panko that falls off into the oil so you don't have burnt bread crumbs floating around. Set the pork on paper towls to cool.
While the pork is cooling, mix the mirin, sake, soy sauce, dashi, water, and sugar in a measuring cup (or something else you can pour from easily).
Slice the pork into bite-sized pieces, and divide into 3 or 4 equal portions.
Empty the oil from the wok and rise it. Add one of the portions of pork to the wok with a third or a fourth of the sauce and heat on medium (the sauce should be boiling lightly), it will cook down for 3-5 minutes depending on desired thickness, as it is reaching the desired thickness, crack an egg into the sauce. Using a fork or a pair of chopsticks scramble the egg in the sauce. Removed the pork and the sauce when the egg is cooked, and repeat this section for the other portions.
Serve over rice.
|