Baked Katsudon (Japanese Crispy Baked Cutlet Rice Bowl)

• From: link

• Cooking Time: 65 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
• 2 pieces boneless pork loin chops (½ inch thick) ((4 oz, 113 g each))
• 1 tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1-2 Tbsp all-purpose flour (plain flour)
• 1 large egg (50 g w/o shell)
• ½ onion ((divided; ¼ onion per serving))
• 2 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell) ((divided; 1 egg per serving))
• 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice
• 1 cup dashi (Japanese soup stock; click to learn more)
• 2 Tbsp sake
• 2 Tbsp mirin
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• mitsuba (Japanese parsley) ((optional; can use chopped green onion/scallion))
• shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) ((optional))

Instructions:

Gather all the ingredients. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). For a convection oven, reduce cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC).

To Make Tonkatsu

Combine the panko and oil in a frying pan and toast over medium heat until golden brown. Transfer panko into a shallow dish and allow to cool.

Cut the onions into thin slices and the mitsuba into small pieces.

Remove the extra fat and make a couple of slits on the connective tissue between the meat and fat. The red meat and fat have different elasticity, and when they are cooked they will shrink and expand at different rates. This will allow Tonkatsu to stay nice and flat and prevent it from curling up.

Pound the meat with a meat pounder, or if you don’t have one then just use the back of a knife to pound. Mold the extended meat back into the original shape with your hands.

Sprinkle salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Dredge each pork piece in the flour to coat completely. Pat off the excess flour.

Beat one egg in a bowl and coat the pork with the beaten egg. Finally, coat with the toasted panko. Press on the panko flakes to make sure they adhere to the pork.

Place the pork on the prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper or even better if you have an oven-safe wire rack (as air goes through on the bottom so panko won’t get crushed). Bake at 400ºF (200ºC) until the pork is no longer pink inside, about 20 minutes.

Remove the tonkatsu from the oven and cut into 1-inch pieces (so you can eat with chopsticks).

To Prepare Sauce and Egg

Combine Seasonings in a liquid measuring cup or bowl. This amount could be more than you need, depending on the frying pan size you decide to use. You can store the extra in a mason jar in the refrigerator for up to a week. Beat one egg in a bowl.

Why Do We Use Oyakodon Pan?

In this step-by-step, I will show you how traditionally Katsudon is made in a 1-serving Oyakodon Pan Why? The size of the oyakodon pan is similar to donburi bowl size; therefore, it’s easy to slide the cooked food over steamed rice in the bowl. You can make 2 servings at once in one large frying pan and carefully divide it, but each portion won’t be a round shape to fit over the round rice bowl.

To Make Katsudon

Put half of the onion slices into the pan and pour ½ to ¾ cup of the sauce to cover them. Adjust the amount of sauce based on your frying pan size. Bring the sauce and onions to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and cook onion slices until translucent, about 4-5 minutes.

Put one Baked Tonkatsu in it and turn the heat to medium high. Pour and distribute beaten egg evenly and cover with the lid.

When the egg is half cooked, about 30 seconds, turn off the heat.

To Serve

Serve rice in a donburi bowl and slide Tonkatsu and egg mixture on top. Continue with the second serving. Serve with shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) on the side.