Tonkatsu – Japanese Fried Pork Cutlet

Japanese love their comfort food too! On our recent trip to Osaka, it couldn’t be more evident. Around every corner is a small restaurant, at times so small that there are no chairs. Just long, high tables where you eat standing up. “Eat and Go” appears to be the trend. In these establishments, efficiency of space and time is the important. There are so many eating places that the food has to be really tasty in order to keep customers coming back for more.

One of the most popular comfort dishes in Japan is Tonkatsu. The word tonkatsu is a combination of the Japanese word ton (豚) meaning “pig” and katsu (カツ), which is a shortened form of katsuretsu (カツレツ), the transliteration of the English word cutlet, which again derived from french côtelette, meaning “meat chop”. It is a pork cutlet, seasoned and dipped in flour, egg and panko. They deep fry it until its golden brown and crisp on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. Usually it is served with tonkatsu sauce. A dipping sauce whose main ingredients are ketchup, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and dijon mustard. There are many variations to tonkatsu sauce. Some like to eat tonkatsu with Japanese curry. That is delicious too!

Our tonkatsu recipe is very simple and easy to make. We really hope you try this recipe and share with your family and friends!

 

 

TONKATSU SAUCE:

1/3 cup ketchup
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground sesame seeds

Blend all ingredients in a bowl and then spring the ground sesame seeds on top. Enjoy!