9th
Baked Pork Katsu with Cucumber Salad
The last time I was at Hong Kong Supermarket, I picked up a bag of panko breadcrumbs on impulse. I’m glad I did, because I had all the ingredients on hand today to make tonkatsu. Although tonkatsu is traditionally deep fried or pan fried, I decided to bake the pork to be healthier. Dani Spies had a recipe for baked tonkatsu, so I followed her guidance. She found her inspiration at Closet Cooking, one of my favorite cooking blogs.
I only had thinly sliced boneless pork chops in the freezer, so I ended up making katsu tenders. Panko stays really crisp in the oven, so baked tonkatsu ended up having a similar texture with less grease.
At restaurants, tonkatsu is usually served on a bed of cabbage or with a cabbage salad/slaw. AMN suggested a cucumber salad as an alternative, and it ended up being the perfect idea since I had some leftover cucumber in the fridge. I quick pickled the cucumber in salt, sugar, and rice vinegar.
As much as I love store-bought katsu sauce, I didn’t have the energy or time to hunt down a bottle. Dani also suggested a sauce recipe, so I decided to try that out. While it didn’t taste the same, I really liked the spiciness of the grated ginger.
