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A futuristic Cyberpunk-style food photo showing a close-up of two crispy Japanese Tonkatsu pork cutlets on a plate, drizzled with Tonkatsu sauce. Bowls of rice and thinly sliced cabbage can be seen in the background.
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Tonkatsu

Double deep fried pork cutlets, as crispy as they are addictive.
Prep Time45 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Japanese
Servings: 2 people

Equipment

  • 1 Meat tenderizer
  • 1 Thermometer for measuring oil temperature
  • 1 fine-mesh strainer
  • 1 spray bottle for moistening the panko; optional
  • 1 Mandolin cutter if you're adding fresh cabbage; optional, but useful

Ingredients

For the meat

  • 400 g pork loin cutlets 3-5 pieces, each ~1cm thick, as lean as possible
  • 0.5 tsp table salt
  • 0.5 tsp black pepper freshly ground
  • 1 block oil for deep-frying

For the breading

  • 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 130 g panko

Sides

  • 1 cup Japanese short-grain rice dry
  • 0.25 head green cabbage if desired
  • some tonkatsu sauce store-bought; okonomi sauce also works
  • some sesame sauce (or any other dipping sauce) store-bought; optional
  • 1-2 stalks green onion for garnish; optional

Instructions

Preparation

  • If you would like to add cabbage to the dish, slice it into thin strips. It is highly recommended to use a mandolin slicer using the finest setting.
  • Wash the rice and pop it into the rice cooker. Start it when beginning the deep-frying process.
  • Thinly slice the spring onion and set aside for serving at the end.
  • If you want, moisten the panko with some water now and let it rest for 15 minutes. This will help make the end result crispier. You can use a spray bottle for this, or just moisten your fingers and massage the water in.

Prepare the pork

  • Cut off any edges of white fat on the pork. They would get quite chewy when deep-fried.
  • Pound the cutlets with a tenderizer on both sides, then mold them back to their original shapes using your hands.
  • Season the cutlets with the salt and pepper on both sides. Set aside.

Bread the pork

  • Crack the eggs into a deep plate and whisk together with the oil until well mixed.
  • Prepare another deep dish with the flour, and a third one with the (moistened) panko.
    Repeat the following steps with each individual cutlet.
  • Dredge the cutlet in the flour on both sides and shake off any excess.
  • Next, dip the cutlet into the egg until it's completely covered.
  • Finally, press the pork gently in the panko from both sides. Gently shake off any excess.
  • Set aside until all cutlets are breaded. Make sure they all rest for at least 5 minutes before deep-frying, as the breading will stick better that way.

Deep-fry

  • Repeat the following steps for each individual cutlet.
  • Add the oil to a pot and bring it to 170ºC over medium heat. Make sure it is back up to this temperature every time before adding a new cutlet.
  • Gently put the cutlet into the oil and deep-fry for 2 minutes. Don't touch it in the first 30 seconds to prevent damaging the breading.
  • Take out the pork and remove excess oil by holding it vertically over the pot for a few seconds while the oil drips off.
  • Place it on a wire rack lined with paper towels. I like to gently press down on it with an additional paper towel to dry off as much oil as possible.
  • Discard any fried crumbs in the oil with a fine-mesh strainer.

Double-fry!

  • If you want, turn your oven to around 80°C to then put the final deep-fried cutlets inside to keep them warm.
  • Individually deep-fry the cutlets again, this time for 1 minute each, at 180°C.
  • Make sure the temperature is back up between each one, and to discard any crumbs just like before.

Serve

  • Take the desired amount of cutlets for serving and cut them into 2cm wide slices. (Leave the rest in the oven to keep them warm for seconds.)
  • Place the sliced cabbage on the plate and arrange the cut pork on top.
  • Serve with rice and sauces, sprinkle with green onion.