JAVALAND: Japanese Pork Cutlet Recipe

Tonkatsu is deep fried pork chop - Japanese pork cutlet. Ton means pig/pork in Japanese. If you use chicken for this dish, it's called chickenkatsu. You can also use beef and make beefkatsu.
Ingredients: 4 pieces of pork loin 1 teaspoon salt, pepper 1 egg panko, bread crumbs used in Japanese recipes, as needed flour as needed fry oil as needed 200g julienne cabbage 1 tomato cut into wedges 4 ring cut lemon slicesd Special tonkatsu sauce: 1 part worcestershire sauce 1 part ketchsup
Directions: 1. With the tip of a knife, randomly poke through the pork loin tendons (where the meat meets the fat layer). Place the meat so that the fat strip is horizontal to you and poke the knife verticly in. Sprinkle salt over both sides. Sprinkle pepper sparingly. Allow the flavor to set in for 5 minutes. Stir up the egg evenly, and pour into a wide container. As well, distribute evenly the panko and flour into their own separate containers.
2. Thoroughly wipe away any moisture present on the raw meat. Dip each piece of meat at a time evenly and in order: first in a coat of flour, then in the egg. After the egg, let each piece of meat sit in the panko, as you flour and egg the other meat one at a time. The panko sets in with the egg layer in this way. When finished flouring and egging, scoop up the remaining panko and layer it atop the egged meat, firmly pressing this panko in. Let the fully pankoed meat sit a while to absorb the crumbs.
3. Cut out the root area of the cabbage, and peel away the first outer leaf. First cut into long and thin (2in./6cm wide) veggie steaks, then julienne these with a grater or by hand. Soak this in chilled water for 10 minutes to make crisp, then strain off the water. Heat oil to 170 C (340 F), and gently add the crumbed meat. Fry on each side for about 2 to 3 minutes each or until brown. When done the cutlets make a certain crackling sound. Keep frying if this isn't acheived in the 2-3 minutes of frying.
4. Place the julienne cabbage on each plate. Garnish with tomato wedges, lemon slice, and parsley if desired. Cut the fried tonkatsu into bite size strips, transfer atop the cabbage, and dress with sauce.
Hints: To make crisp, spiced tonkatsu, you must take special care to wipe as much moisture as possible off the meat. Pay special att.ention when dipping the meat in flour. After frying, the batt.er falls away from the meat easily, and the once locked, juicy pork underneath is revealed. Try to present the side fried first on the plate facing upward (over-hard if you're talking egg talk; much like over-easy). This side tends to fry more crunchy - it's the appealing side.
Japanese Liquid Measures: 1 cup = 200ml = 6.76 fl oz 1 tablespoon = 15ml = 0.5 fl oz 1 teaspoon = 5ml = 0.16 fl oz