Katsu Donburi ~ Japanese Comfort Food

We were stationed in Japan from

January 1981 ~ July 1984.

I loved it!

Outside the main gate of Misawa AFB

there was an itty bitty alley off the

main street that lead into the base.

It was known as American Alley.

Tucked away inside the alley was

a small restaurant ~ which neither of us

can remember the name of.

~

Inside the owner/cooks were on one

side of a counter cooking away, or talking

with their patrons/friends at the counter.

A TV was usually on above the cooks head.

You could choose to sit at an American

table with chairs, at the floor table

with cushions and lap blankets,

 or at video game tables with

Packmans gobbling up 

... whatever they gobbled.

~

Three quarters of the year it was cold

 in Misawa. I'm talking cold enough

to celebrate

 the Fourth of July

 with coats and

sparkler burned mittens.

The fireworks shooting up into the night

sky ~ exploded  and

made brightly colored circles of fog.

Ooh ahh... ahem.

~

Our last winter there,

we endured 236 inches of snowfall.

Not all at once of course,

but it seemed like it.

~

Going out for dinner

or lunch was an adventure

in the winter time.

But the restaurants offered

the most wonderful steaming

bowls of udon soups and our

favorite ~

steaming hot bowls

of katsu donburi

known to us as just katsu don.

~

"This is a complicated dish

(which is unusual since most

peasant dishes are relatively simple)

which is well worth the effort

for sheer taste;  it is truly

worthy of an emperor."

Source: quote and recipe

is from 'Japanese Country Cookbook'

The complete original recipe is below.

~

Katsu Donburi

A Peasant Pork Meal in a Bowl.

Make a pot of rice first thing.

Please use short grain rice

as you do want the grains to

slightly cling together.  It's

just the way it should be especially

if you are using chop sticks

for eating utensils.

Slice pork loin chops into thin slices,

and then pound them even thinner.

Dip in an egg wash, coat with

Panko crumbs and let set 15 minutes.

Add remaining eggs to what's left of

the pork dipping eggs.  Slice

your vegetables.  I use

mushrooms and onions.

The original recipe calls for

beansprouts, that I no longer use

and it doesn't use mushrooms~

but I do.

Prep the sauce now as well.

It can sit on a burner waiting

 for the finale.

Brown the pork slices

in a small amount of oil.

The original recipe calls for

1 cube of butter ( no way)

 or 2 tablespoons oil.

Just use nonstick pans and the oil.

Drain on paper towels,

and keep warm in an oven.

  

Now's the hard part.

Do not snack on the pork pieces.

Even though you've made way more

than you need ~ well maybe just one or two

wouldn't hurt... ahem.  Hide them

in the oven.  That really helps.

Saute your mushrooms and onions

in the same skillet you just cooked

 the pork slices in.  Cook until the

onions are transparent. Actually

brown the onions a bit.

It will taste better.

Mix up your eggs.

Take twenty photos with

one hand while swirling eggs

with the other.

Now, pour the eggs into

the skillet with the

delicious smelling mushrooms

and onions.

Stir and cook until the eggs turn into

a soft scrambled consistency.

Spoon a serving of rice

into the bottom of your bowl.

Top with some of the

mushroom, onion, egg mixture.

Cover with a few 

warm pork slices.

Add a couple of tablespoons

of the soy~sugar~mirin sauce

on top.  

Be careful ~ you don't

want to drown the rice.

 This spoon looks big in the photo,

but only holds a tablespoon or so.

Top the bowl with it's cover

and serve right away.

Here's the recipe  as written

from the book

with a few notes of my own

in red

because I just can't help myself. 

Katsu Donburi

3/4 lb lean pork cutlet, 1/8" thick

cracker crumbs (Please use Panko crumbs)

2 beaten eggs

oil to fry

hot cooked rice for four

4 eggs

1 pound fresh bean sprouts,

or 1 can (16 ounce drained) Euuuw.

1 cube butter, or 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Sauce of

1 cup water

1/2 cup shoyu  (soy sauce)

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons mirin or dry sherry

  (Please use mirin and only

half of all the sauce ingredients.

It makes way too much sauce.)

Dip pork in eggs and coat in cracker crumbs.  Let set for 10 to 15 minutes.

Fry in oil until brown 3 to 4 minutes, turning once.  Drain.

Mix 4 eggs with leftover egg

that was used to coat pork, beat.

Heat butter or oil, saute onions until transparent.  Add sprouts and

cook  until  wilted. (I prefer mushrooms.)

Add eggs and "soft scramble". 

 Heat the sauce in a separate pan.

  Heat pork cutlets in oven

for a few minutes before serving.

  Put rice in 4 bowls. 

 Top with egg mixture.

Pour sauce over all

 (do not drown the rice and eggs),

 crown with the cutlet

 that has been cut to bite-size pieces. 

 Serve hot and be prepared for a real treat.

~~~~~

I'll get back to the tea posts 

after my bandwidth limit resets tomorrow.

The tea photos are on my computer.

Meanwhile today~

I'm using Rick's computer

 and what's left

of his bandwidth limit.

 (separate Verizon accounts)

This post was an unfinished

one from early last month

that already had the photos uploaded

to Blogger.  Then life got busy

and you know how it goes...