TONKATSU (Japanese Breaded Pork Cutlets)

Tonkatsu literally mean Ton= Pork, Katsu = cutlet. A quick, easy Japanese dish. This is one of my "go to" dish if i crave for some Japanese food aside from sushi of course.

Add more ingredients to this like fried egg and you'll have a totally new dish called Katsudon but we will  do that some other time.

Ingredients:

8 thin-cut pork loin boneless center cut chops (Pork chop is good too)
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
1 cup flour
1 egg (beaten)
½ cup milk
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
4 cups cabbage ( I used napa cabbage, shredded)
Canola oil for cooking

You will need three shallow bowls for the egg wash method.

*** You will also be doing the left hand dry, right hand wet method as well to avoid a mess.

1^st bowl – flour mixed with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2^nd bowl – combine egg and milk, add salt and pepper.  Mix and beat. Set aside
3^rd bowl – panko breadcrumbs mixed with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat.

Dredge pork cutlets in the 1^st bowl (flour), then coat them in the 2^nd bowl (egg wash) using your left hand (wet).

Then coat with panko (3^rd bowl using your right hand, dry). Press cutlets so panko will adhere to the meat
.
Gently drop coated pork cutlets into the hot skillet by batch. Don’t overcrowd your pan this will produce moisture.

Since the pork cutlets are thinly sliced, fry them for 3 minutes on each side or until brown.

Set cooked pork cutlets on cookie rack to let excess oil drip. I don’t recommend paper towel, it will urn your crispy pork cutlets mushy and soggy.

Tonkatsu Sauce:

½ C Worcestershire sauce
¼ C Catsup
¼ C ponzu * ( you can use Teriyaki Soy Sauce)

* Ponzu is a Citrus ( Yozu) seasoned soy sauce

Mix and whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Breaded Pork Cutlet on a bed of shredded cabbage, with steamed white rice, tomatoes and Tonkatsu sauce.

I told you this was easy, quick and delicious. 

TERIYAKI MUSHROOMS

This is so simple, easy yet so delicious. I call this K.I.S.S.(Keep It Simple Sweetheart...okay, okay S really means Stupid ha!ha!ha!) .This is actually one of my no recipe recipe dish ;) All you need are 3 ingredients (mushrooms, teriyaki sauce, canola oil) and viola! you have a wonderful appetizer or side dish.

Clean and wipe your mushrooms with damped towels.
Preheat your oven at 360 degrees F
Cover your baking pan with foil or parchment paper to save you from washing the pan. Spray or wipe oil around your baking pan

Arrange mushrooms on to your baking pan.

Drizzle each mushrooms w/ Teriyaki sauce.and oil mixture.

Bake for 40 minutes or until mushrooms are tender.

Viola!!! So juicy and delicious.

POTSTICKERS (GYOZA/CHINESE DUMPLINGS)

Y: 1 pack of wonton wrapper about 50 pcs.

Filling:

4 C Napa cabbage (sliced thin)

1 ½ t salt

1 lb ground pork

1/2 lb fresh shrimps (cleaned and minced)

2 to 3 stalks of green scallions (minced)

2 pieces of wood ears mushrooms /black fungus (optional)

1/4 t white pepper

2 ½ T soy sauce

1 ½ T freshly grated ginger

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 egg whites, lightly beaten

1/2 t sesame oil

Oil and water for cooking

Slurry to seal the edges of the wonton wrappers:

2 T cornstarch

4 T water


Dipping Sauce:

1/2 C soy sauce

2 T rice wine vinegar

Dash of sesame oil

Chili oil to taste

Scallions minced to garnish


Procedure:

For the Dipping Sauce – Combine all ingredients in bowl. Set aside, can also be refrigerated for a week.


For the Slurry – Mix and stir cornstarch and water. Microwave for few seconds until you achieve a paste consistency.

For the Pot stickers:

1. Rehydrate/soak wood ears in luke warm water until tender, then chop.

2. Toss cabbage and salt. Squeeze out the liquid from the cabbage.

3. Combine the cabbage and all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

4. Fry a teaspoon of the filling to check and adjust the seasoning.

5. Refrigerate until cold about 30 minutes. It’s easier to wrap the filling when cold.

6. Place a spoonful of filling in the center of the wonton wrapper. Use enough of the mixture to fill out the wrapper completely without overstuffing it. Make sure to keep the edges clean giving you room to enclose the filling w/ the wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wonton wrapper with slurry.

7. Fold the bottom half of the wrapper to meet the top half that you moistened in the previous step and seal. At this point you will have the option to make a pleated or simple pot stickers.

8. Grease bottom of a nonstick pan with oil. Add the pot stickers by batches to the hot pan, laying them flat and being sure not to crowd. Place pan over medium high heat and cook for 4-5 minutes without moving. You want the sides to become golden brown.

9. Pour about 3 T of water and cover the pan for another 10 minutes. This is to steam the pot stickers.

9. Serve with the Dipping Sauce. These are delicious served hot!

I grind my own meat as much as possible.

Mis en place

A spoonful of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wonton wrapper with slurry.

Make the pleats on one side of the wrapper.

It should look like this.

I always make a lot, freeze them for later use. Place the potstickers on a sheet pan and place in the freezer.  Once the potstickers are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag. The potstickers can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Cook the potstickers without thawing.



Cold Soba Salad & Tempura-The Daring Cooks February 2011 Challenge

This month's challenge was hosted by Lisa of http://blueberrygirlinoz.blogspot.com/ .  Japanese fare a fave at home especially tempura, sushi and noodles . So, thanks for this great challenge Lisa!

This challenge made me experiment on something i've been planning on trying at home, tempura sushi. Love it! love it! another way to present your sushi. It's like two in one...sushi/tempura.. ha!

I used Nobu's tempura batter and Simple Butter Ponzu Sauce recipes from his book "Nobu Now". The batter was "so, so" i still want my batter w/o eggs. I believe that tempura will stay crispy longer sans the eggs.

The Ponzu Sauce added another layer of flavor to the tempura, Yum!
SIMPLE BUTER PONZU SAUCE:


4 T ponzu****
1 T melted clarified butter

PONZU RECIPE***

4 T soy sauce

8 T rice vinegar

2 T lemon juice

3/4 inch square piece of konbu*(omit if you can't find them)

Mix all the ponzu ingredients (better if you soak this overnight) then add the melted clarified butter.

Butter ponzu sauce needs to be served immediately because the fat will separate when it cools down.

TEMPURA BUTTER:
1 egg yolk
6 3/4 fl oz. iced water
3 1/2  AP flour

1. Make the tempura batter by lightly mixing the ingredients.

2. Blanch the vegetables or  seafood briefly if raw.

3. Heat oil for deep frying to 355 degrees F. Dust the vegetables or seafoods lightly with flour, dip in the batter and fry in the hot oil for about 2 minutes. With the sushi, you can dip them straight into the batter.

4. Place finished tempura pieces on a wire rack so that excess oil can drip off. Continue frying the other items, frequently scooping out any bits of batter to keep the oil clean and prevent the oil (and the remaining tempura) from getting a burned flavor.

Butternut Squash (must blanch them first before frying)

Sweet Potatoes (must blanch first before frying)

Green beans

Shiso leaves

Tempura- Sushi, Sweet Potatoes, Butternutsquash, Green Beans!

COLD SOBA NOODLES, A WONDERFUL "GO TO" LUNCH OR DINNER. HEALTHY AND SO FILLING.

SOBA NOODLES:

Ingredients

2 quarts (2 Liters) water + 1 cup cold water, separate

12 oz (340 g) dried soba (buckwheat) noodles (or any Asian thin noodle)

Directions:
Cooking the noodles:
1.Heat 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Add the noodles a small bundle at a time, stirring gently to separate. When the water returns to a full boil, add 1 cup of cold water. Repeat this twice. When the water returns to a full boil, check the noodles for doneness. You want to cook them until they are firm-tender. Do not overcook them.

2.Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse well under cold running water until the noodles are cool. This not only stops the cooking process, but also removes the starch from the noodles. This is an essential part of soba noodle making. Once the noodles are cool, drain them and cover them with a damp kitchen towel and set them aside allowing them to cool completely.

Spicy Dipping Sauce:


Ingredients

¾ cup 70gm/2½ oz spring onions/green onions/scallions, finely chopped

3 tablespoons soy sauce- it's a must to use Japanese soy sauce like Kikkoman to achieve the flavor.

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

½ teaspoon granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon Asian mustard powder

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon  sesame oil (if you can’t find this just omit from recipe.)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste - roughly 1/3 a teaspoon of each

Directions:

1. Shake all the ingredients together in a covered container. Once the salt has dissolved, add and shake in 2 tablespoons of water and season again if needed


TOPPED WITH FRIED TOFU, EGGS, SCALLIONS AND SESAME SEEDS.

Cold Soba Noodles with crispy tofu and eggs. Garnished with sesame seeds and scallions.



NIRA ITAME (STIR FRY CHIVES)

Nira or Chinese Chives could be purchased at most Asian produce markets. Stronger in flavor than regular chives, Nira is available in four major varieties: dark green (known as Green Nira or Garlic Chives), pale yellow (known as Yellow Nira, Yellow Chive or Chive Shoot), a round-stemmed chive topped by a pointed flower bud (known as gau choy fa) and a distinctly flavored chive with a similar appearance (known as gau choy sum.) Popular for use in soups, stir fry and salads, Nira Grass can be used like an onion. The slender shoots can be snipped and added to sandwiches and spreads or used as a garnish on vegetables.

Ingredients:

1 lb shrimp (cleaned and deveined)

2 tablespoons oil

2 cloves garlic- minced

2 pieces green onions minced

1 tablespoon soy sauce (kikkoman)

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1 tablespoon rice wine

1 bunch of Nira cut 1 to 2 inches

1 dash sesame oil for garnish


Heat a wok and saute 1 tablespoon of the oil, the garlic.
Add the onions, soy sauce, pepper, rice wine and the nira.

Stir until nira turns dark green and tender.

Stir in the shrimps and cook until shrimp turns pink.

Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.

Garnish with a dash of sesame seeds

Serve with steamed rice.

GARLIC SAUTEED SHIRIMP

Another Nobu recipe from "Nobu Now" this was good. Simple to make as well. Nobu suggested to use the finest quality sea salt to draw out the natural sweetness of the shrimp. No problem with that since i have one of the best quality sea salt in my pantry, well that's my opinion.

Serves 4

10 tiger prawns, in the shell, each about 1 ounce ( i used 1 lb large size shrimp)
sea salt (good quality salt)
black pepper
3 T grated garlic
olive oil
sake'
chopped chives or parsley

1.  Slice the whole shrimp (prawns) in half lengthwise and devein. Season generously with sea salt and black pepper.

2. Add the grated garlic and little olive oil to a frying pan, and heat. When the garlic aroma has infused the olive oil, turn up the heat and add the shrimp, shell side down. Saute the shrimp, gently shaking the pan from side to side, Halfway through, turn the shrimp over and saute flesh side down.

3. Finish off by sprinkling some sake over the shirmp, then pile them on plates and scatter with chopped chives.

Had this as a side dish for my Black and Red Rice Risotto

Vegetarian Stir Fry With Soba Noodles

This is a morphed dish, a no recipe recipe.

Morphed dish because the veggie and the sauce i used for this dish are "left overs" from my PORK SATAY,PLS CHECK HERE FOR THE RECIPE . I didn't want to waste the extra peanut sauce from my pork satay, thanks to LisaMichele a co-Daring Cook, she gave me an  idea on how to make use  of  the extra sauce. So, both the gai lan (Chinese broccoli) and the sauce will become ingredients to a totally different dish.

No recipe, recipe because this is an eyeball thing or taste as you go style of cooking. You may add any vegetable you like.  Oh, except for the peanut sauce!

Ingredients: (Serves 2)

Peanut sauce  CHECK RECIPE HERE
Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli) about 8 leaves including stems (leaves chiffonade, stems thinly sliced)
Soba Noodles -2 bunches
Firm tofu ( I used Japanese firm tofu but Chinese firm tofu is better)
Bell peppers - diced (tri color peppers would be great to add color to the dish)
Sesame oil - 1/2 tsp
Scallions - chopped (sweet onions could be used)
Garlic - 2 cloves chopped
Water - to thin out the peanut sauce
Ponzu - 1 T (Japanese citrus seasoned soy sauce) or use plain soy sauce
1 lemon - you'll need just the juice.
Sriracha sauce or Sambal Oelek - 2 tsp (optional)

1. Follow Soba noodles cooking instructions (they are cooked like spaghetti noodles)

2. While your noodles are boiling, cut tofu into cubes or dice. Shallow fry them. Set aside.

3. Using the same pan you used in frying the tofu, saute' garlic and onions until tender. Mix in the veggies cook until gai lai stems are cooked. Set aside.

4. In the pan, mix peanut sauce, sesame oil, ponzu, lemon juice, sriracha sauce and let simmer. Add little water if sauce is still thick. Taste and re-season if you want.

5. Add the the noodles, the veggies into the sauce and carefully toss everything together until they are incorporated.

6. Serve and place the tofu on top.

7. You can garnish this w/ chopped peanuts or toasted sesame seeds.

SOBA NOODLES

VEGETARIAN STIR FRY SOBA NOODLES

YOU CAN ADD SEAFOODS AS WELL.

SUSHI GALORE PART 2- NOVEMBER DARING COOKS CHALLENGE

After i made the sushi challenge i then made more sushi and got a bit creative. I have more concepts and ideas that i need to make but in the meantime these are what i made. Pls. check HERE for the sushi recipes and instructions.

California rolls w/ Salmon Roe

California rolls w/ salmon roe, garnished w/ seasweed salad

My "thinking outside the box" sushi. I had extra cukes and i have smoked salmon in the fridge..this is what i came up with!

Hollowed cukes, a little of wasabi, smoked salmon, black sesame seeds.